Shackles of Friendship and War
by How To Munch Death 101
Summary: What if Hermione chose to go with Ron instead of Harry in the fight inside the tent while searching for the Horcruxes? Deathly Hallows AU
1. Prologue

_"'Leave the Horcrux, ' Harry said.  
>Ron wrenched the chain from over his head and cast the locket into a nearby chair. He turned to Hermione.<br>'What are you doing?'  
>'What do you mean?'<br>'Are you staying, or what?'  
>'I...' She looked anguished. <em>(Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pg. 343-344, J.K. Rowling)

**Prologue**

"I can't just choose between the two of you! You are my best friends, please don't make me choose!" Hermione begged as tears spilled from her dark brown eyes down her cheeks. She looked exhausted and stressed. Harry couldn't recall a time she looked as distressed as she looked now. It has been seven years since their extremely close friendship started. The weary teen felt his heart ache at the sight of his best friend, his sister in everything but blood, having to make a choice that he knew he wouldn't have been able to make if he was in her position. However, Harry knew that he couldn't interfere, Ron has chosen and it was time for Hermione to make her own decision.

He looked at the red-haired teen, his closest friend since their first ride on the Hogwarts Express. It was hard to believe that they have come to this after so many adventures together. Harry couldn't even see the insecure awkward boy he met on the train; gone were the innocence and naivety, the happiness simply vanished from the blue eyes that were set on Hermione as her mouth moved wordlessly.

They have gotten into so many fights and arguments. Yet this one seemed to be the biggest and most likely would have an unforgettable impact on the three of them.

"I'm sorry Harry," Hermione's broken voice shook him out of his thoughts. His emerald green eyes widened in surprise as he heard the three words that held a tremendous meaning behind them. He looked at the young witch whose eyes were red and wide as the words escaped her mouth. Harry could see Ron in the corner of his eye, looking surprised yet triumphant as their bushy-haired friend went on apologizing and explaining.

Harry however wasn't listening, his mind was frozen on the fact she chose Ron over him, what about the mission? What about the promise they made to Dumbledore?

His anger diminished quickly. Since when was it the promise _they_ made to Dumbledore? It was only him, Harry, who promised to search and destroy the Horcruxes. Hermione and Ron joined him in their own insistence.

Another wave of anger washed over him. Did they expect this to be a luxurious field trip? Being the big fearless heroes, defeating the evil Dark Lord Voldemort single-handily?

A soft voice whispered in his head, calming him down, making him breathe deeply before thinking rationally about it.

Perhaps... perhaps it was for the best. He hummed inaudibly. _Yes_, he smiled, _it was_. Wasn't it his wish for them to stay out of it? Didn't he want to hunt for the Horcruxes by himself to keep his friends safe?

He breathed in sharply as the next line of thought came into his mind.

They presented him the opportunity to make sure they won't endanger themselves.

He simply had to let go.

But they were his friends! His best friends!

How could he let them go?

The voice resorted, would he be able to face their deaths? Would he be able to keep going if he knew that his best friends whom he loved so deeply were dead because of him?

No. Harry knew he'd break down, unable to keep fighting Voldemort.

He had to let them go.

With a faint smile, trying to hide the pain his next actions will cause him, Harry looked at his two closest friends, knowing it might be the last time he saw them. Warm memories washed over him: his love and care for them, accepting their flaws and being accepted by them as Harry, not some kind of a bloody hero that he had to be right now.

As much as it hurt him, he knew he was ready to let them go for their safety.

"It's ok Hermione, I... understand." Harry said, his uncharacteristically calm voice sounding odd to him. They both looked at him in surprise, expecting their black-haired friend to be angry as he was a moment ago. He felt a stab of guilt from that. Harry realized that his friends grew accustomed to his unjustified anger and snapping. He always wondered why they endured him and his problems; his heart warmed from the acceptance they always showed him.

"I want you guys to find your families and go to a safe place. This war isn't going to end anytime soon and I want you to be safe." He spoke quietly, his tired eyes shining with emotion. Harry could see that his female best friend was having trouble keeping her sobs quiet, her eyes wide and panicked; he realized that she was suffering from her decision. Ron was looking stunned at his best friend, listening to him speaking with disbelief. Harry smiled for a moment. Of course most of what Ron said was because of the darned locket. Now that he was coming out of the suffocating influence of Voldemort's Horcrux, he was starting to realize what he said and the consequences behind it.

Harry brushed his thoughts aside. The teen knew that he had to act while his friends were still in shock and caught off guard. He swiftly summoned the locket with a silent _accio_, making sure his cloak and map were on him. They were in his mokeskin pouch, as well as the snitch. Harry didn't bother to take anything else; all his valuable possessions were in his pouch and his wand was in his pocket. Everything else belonged to his friends.

Harry spared his shocked friends a brief warm smile, his eyes lingering on them for a long moment, memorising them as he said his silent goodbye.

The teen quickly made his way out of the tent. He could hear Hermione yelling his name desperately but it was too late, without another look at the tent, Harry disapparated with a faint pop.

**To be continued?**

**Any reviews, suggestions or criticism are very welcome and will be replied to.**


	2. Chapter 1  Memories

**IMPORTANT NOTE: Hey guys, well this is a bit of an early chapter and there's a reason to that. My family is moving in a few days (Thursday) and I won't be able to update the story for the next week or two weeks, until I get my Internet connection back. So enjoy this chapter and I'll see you in a week or so :)**

**Chapter 1 - Memories and a Start of a New Journey**

A sudden change occurred in the calm typical November dark sky. The soft gentle snowflakes that fell down upon the quiet village of Godric's Hollow were harshly replaced by an unusually violent rain. The calm sky of the night was filled with angry clouds that moved quickly and brought down rain upon the earth, lighting and thunder making their presence clear in the chaotic sky.

People looked out of the windows of their houses, wondering what has happened; what caused that drastic change? Indeed something has happened, something that had the power to change the outcome of the ongoing raging war that most of the residents of the peaceful village of Godric's Hollow weren't even aware of.

Harry Potter, the Undesirable Number One that was hunted by the Ministry of Magic, landed with a grunt in a dusty room. He was able to keep his balance and straightened up after a moment, looking around the unfamiliar room. The teen quickly determined that it was a nursery, old dusty toys were scattered around the room and he finally noticed the ugly scorch marks on the walls. Harry was starting to have a rising suspicion and when he noticed that rain was pouring down on him from the ruined roof that gave him a good view on the stormy sky above, he knew he was right.

_"__Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off__!" Panicked rushing, entering the nursery, being put down, his mom desperately trying to barricade the room. Picking him up and holding him tightly to her, whispering that she loved him as she shakes with sobs. An explosion. Cold laughing as his mom screams. "Step aside you silly girl." "No! Please! Not Harry!" "Avada Kedavra!" A flash of sickly green as his mom falls lifelessly in front of him, her fiery red hair fluttering. Cold red eyes looking at him in amusement. The monster's lips curving in a cruel smile. His bone-white wand raising and a streak of startling green leaving the wand, harsh chanting as the curse speeds towards him. Unimaginable pain as he whimpers and wails in agony, feeling his magic react against the foul intruder, tearing it apart and sending it back to the cruel man. His red eyes widening in horror and surprise, a shriek of pain escaping him as he is hit by his curse, cutting off the chanting. His flesh torn apart and burnt into ash in seconds, leaving only his robes on the nursery's floor. Feeling an outside force inside of him, crying from the lack of understanding of the horrifying events. Blackness._

The teen was sprawled on the dirty floor as the images stopped assaulting his mind. He realized he had tears in his eyes. They were pouring down his cheeks and falling on the floor. Harry could feel himself shaking violently as he realized that he had just relived that unforgettable night, that he saw through his one year old past-self's eyes.

It raised many questions in his mind but he ignored them for now. He could feel his hatred for the Dark Lord, his parents' murderer, grow and boil but he was able to calm it down. Now that he knew where he was, Harry recognized that he had to act quickly and have his plans all sorted out.

The conversation that he heard less than an hour ago had him thinking; it made him realize that he truly was the last remaining symbol of resistance against Voldemort. The members of the order were being hunted down one by one, and the Ministry as well as Hogwarts already fell before Voldemort's might. Harry was the only person left who was actively working against Voldemort, but how? By trying to search and destroy the Horcruxes? That was obviously a critical step in the path of the Dark Lord's defeat but what then? How was he, a single wizard, going to defeat the whole dark army? Just because Voldemort would become mortal didn't mean that he would be defeated; he still needed to somehow kill him and destroy his army.

To accomplish that, he needed an army of his own. Harry wondered how that question hadn't entered his mind during these days on the run. He was so concentrated on the Horcruxes that he forgot the even bigger crux of the problem. It wasn't the first time he had these thoughts, but it was the first time it actually looked possible for him.

Harry was always crowded by Ron and Hermione and as much as he loved them dearly, their ideals and dreams were much different from his own. It seemed to him like a lot of people believed that with the death of Voldemort, sudden peace would be achieved; that the death eaters would simply surrender just because of their master's downfall. He wished it was as simple as that, but Harry knew that there was no chance for such thing. It was no surprise to him that the death eaters surrendered last time. They saw Voldemort as an immortal god and his defeat shook them to their cores. However now, after a decade, things have truly changed.

Harry suspected that Voldemort's loyal followers weren't as loyal as they once were, back in the first war. He knew they probably started questioning their lord's _limitless_ power, when he was defeated by a one year old baby of a blood traitor and a mudblood.

Then, when their master has finally returned, he failed once again to kill the same half-blood that defied him as an infant. Harry was sure by that time his servants were starting to see that their perfect unbeatable leader was not impressive at any kind of a way. His charming looks were gone, his temper was explosive and his magic and duelling abilities seem to have diminished from their previous glory.

Harry's fifth and sixth years at Hogwarts were most likely the breaking point, when Voldemort was defeated by Dumbledore and was unable to recover the precious prophecy, and then his failed attempt to possess Harry's mind. Last year he was too cowardly to even show his face. He sent a mere teen to try to kill his nemesis whom he failed to kill himself, and then the teen's actual success must've been devastating for Voldemort's widely known massive ego.

Now Voldemort wasn't even in England if his visions were any indicator to that fact. Harry was certain that death eaters like Severus Snape, who had control of Hogwarts, Bellatrix Lestrange, who could intimidate anyone to join her cause, and even Lucius Malfoy, who would want to rebel against his master who treated him like nothing but dirt, would jump on the opportunity to start planting the seeds of rebellion inside their lord's ranks.

It was hard to battle the temptation to simply leave them to destroy each other from the inside with their plays and fights for power. However, Harry knew if he just let them do that, the wizarding world would be nothing but a drained wasteland by the time the last one of them fell.

Harry was aware that the death eaters were not the only concern he had about the future of the magical world.

It was once again a running thought he had, when he imagined the world after the death eaters and Voldemort were gone. He wondered if the treatment of muggleborns and muggles in general would change. Looking back to the first war, when it was the efforts of a muggleborn witch that lead to the defeat of Voldemort, their treatment hadn't changed in the slightest, so why would it change now?

That line of thought brought him to something he remembered Hermione commenting on one day: how the percentage of muggleborn students in Hogwarts has already risen to 30% and it was still going up rapidly. She said that by the time they will be 22, it would increase to almost 50%, and that astonished Harry.

How could the wizarding world regard such a big number of their population as second class citizens? Didn't they realize what consequences could it have in the future, if half of the entire population was treated as nothing but dirt? It was clear as day, since it always happened throughout history.

At some point the muggleborns will understand that they are big enough in numbers to actually try to change something. Since they came from the muggle world, that thought terrified Harry.

Who knew what would happen if firearms or nuclear weapons were brought into the magical world, or if the muggle world declared a fully fledged war on the magical one. Harry shuddered just from thinking of these horrifying possibilities. No, the young wizard shook his defiantly; he won't let the world to be destroyed like that.

That brought Harry to his earlier thoughts of his own army. The DA was one thing, but he needed something much more serious to be able to combat Voldemort's army. There were many plans in the teen's mind but it was too early to be able to set in action any of them. Before he could gather forces, he had to master himself. He needed to be trained and strong. Above all, he needed to learn Occlumency. It was the first step. He couldn't do anything until he was free from the damned influence of the locket and Voldemort himself.

Harry opened his eyes, only now realizing that they were closed and that he was still lying on the dusty floor. He looked around what he now identified as his nursery. Harry was in Godric's Hollow, his parents' house.

The teen couldn't understand why he was apparated here out of all places, but he didn't want to ponder too much about that, he wanted to get here after all.

In a way, Harry thought, it was a perfect place to start his own journey, at the place where it all began. Where he could overcome the past and concentrate on the present.

Harry batted aside the cowardly desire to lie on the floor and close his eyes, to ignore his surroundings and not have to deal with them. He stood up, squared his shoulders, and with a determined glint in his emerald green eyes, stepped outside of the nursery, ready to confront the demons of the past.

**Any reviews, suggestions or criticism are welcome and will be considered. Thank you.**


	3. Chapter 2 Trouble? Already?

**A.N. - Hey guys :) Well, my Internet is back, much faster than I expected. And after taking a few hours to finally solve some problem I had with uploading, I finally got it working with some good advice. Hope you'll appreciate it. Updates should be more constant now, not absolutely strict, but you should expect at least one chapter a week. Enjoy :)**

**Chapter 2**

With a deep breath Harry pushed the door open, almost flinching as his eyes closed involuntary. For a few moments he stood there like that, tense and ready for something to strike him. Slowly, the strain started leaving his muscles as his green eyes fluttered open hesitantly. He sucked in sharply as he looked at the wall in front of him, where he could see a broken photo rim hanging desperately, almost falling because of the aged old-fashioned nail that was holding it in place.

His eyes were drawn to the scorched torn photo inside of it. He could distinguish a young man and a woman, holding each other while smiling happily. His fingers traced it gently, drinking in their features that were so familiar to his own.

When Harry came out of his trance, he finally noticed a very odd thing about the photo; it wasn't moving. He frowned in confusion as he looked at it. The teen was able to determine that it was indeed a photo taken by a wizard camera, not a muggle one. He never heard or saw a magical photo that didn't move. It was quite surreal. Harry wasn't sure why he was making such a big deal about it, but it felt like it was important. weren't the photos enchanted by experts and were supposed to never stop unless...

Wait. What if a violent magical outburst could even break the tight enchantments that the magical photos were so known of? Was the backlash of deflecting the Killing Curse that immense? It was quite a peculiar thing for Harry and he wasn't even sure why.

Why was that small detail bothering him so much? Was it the fact that in some way, seeing a thing that was set in stone, like the moving photos, not being so absolute made Harry realize how abnormal that encounter with Voldemort all these years ago was?

He felt that cruel and cold presence inside of him again, slowly pulsing and expanding in the deepest and darkest corner of his body and consciousness. Harry couldn't bring himself to understand what it was, as if something fogged his mind when he tried to think about it. A sigh escaped the weary teen, knowing that the Dark Lord was most likely gaining a bit more fragment of control over him every passing second. That terrifying knowledge just made him even more determined about his first objective, to learn occlumency.

Harry decided to explore the second floor later, already feeling mentally exhausted from just that small encounter. He promised himself to continue later, to explore his parents' bedroom.

He descended down the rickety stairs, wincing after every screeching protest the old wood made. He made a bee line to the kitchen as he felt his hunger catching up with him. After a few minutes of rummaging through the various cupboards and drawers, Harry reached a conclusion: there was nothing to satisfy his growling stomach.

Harry marched out of the house, with his invisibility cloak around his shoulders.

The teen slowly walked down the path from his house to the main street of Godric's Hollow, seeing the sun slowly rising as the sky was getting brighter for the new day, knowing a new chapter of his life just started.

Harry tensed as he heard voices ahead, but relaxed when he saw it was only the villagers who greeted each other as they milled around. Strangely, he could see that some of them were wizards and witches, while others were muggles. It made him wonder if said muggles were aware but concluded that it was highly unlikely.

The village itself was quite active for such an early hour, which Harry determined as 6 am in the morning from a passing muggle's wrist watch. Many villagers, young and old, were already strolling busily down the streets and shouting greetings to each other. The atmosphere was refreshingly cheerful and almost careless, unlike the tense and stressful one that Harry got accustomed to in the last couple months. It was almost surreal that the village that was the place where the most important event of the war against Lord Voldemort has taken place seemed to be so unaffected by the ongoing war.

Harry chuckled bitterly at the irony, making sure to stay at a safe distance from all the people, but he found it getting harder and harder by the minute as the street got fuller with lively activity. With a quick decision, he slipped into one of the stores, which looked like a place where he would be able to find supplies and it was unnoticeable enough for him to hopefully do his business in peace.

The room he entered was dark, which was Harry's first impression. Quite a contradiction to the warm sunshine lit streets outside, the store was dark and cool. It was illuminated by a dim light that seemingly didn't have a source, as Harry observed while taking in his surroundings.

Making sure not to waste more time than needed, Harry quickly made his way to the various shelves, swiftly grabbing the items he needed. Not noticing the figure coming behind him, only to be startled when he heard a feminine steady voice, "can I help you young man?"

Harry swirled around, his wand already in his hand and pointing at the source. It was a woman, in her late thirties from his guess. She was wearing a dark grey jacket with jeans and combat boots, her blond hair cut short and her grey eyes brutal. He couldn't really pin point it, but she seemed to be extremely familiar in a way.

"You know that your fancy invisibility cloak is useless, boy, when you stomp around like a blasted troll." Harry flinched from her harsh tone. Now he knew she was a witch.

He had no time to dwell on the fact that he was detected and caught by a witch; he had other matters to worry about, like being flung against the wall by said witch. He crashed loudly against the wall behind him, feeling his back crack in protest, groaning as he thought about the bruises he was going to have later.

The winded wizard stared at her raised wand with his green eyes wide open, realizing his cloak was not near him at all. Harry gulped. He had a feeling this was going to be extremely painful.

**Any reviews, comments or criticism are welcome and will be considered and answered.**


	4. Chapter 3 Unwise Duel

**Chapter 3**

Harry didn't even have a second to think before scrambling behind the closest object that could provide him cover, which turned out to be a neat pile of potato sacks. The spot where he was only a few moments ago exploded in a shower of burnt wood splinters. The teen raised his arm to shield his face and could feel cuts forming on it. His eyes were open wide as he felt himself panicking from the sudden assault. It took a few seconds for his instincts to kick in, remembering the sessions of Dumbledore's Army and the many fights he already got into.

The wizard steeled himself before turning around and firing three stunning spells in quick succession, finishing them with a disarming charm. The teen stayed in his crouching position, looking confused since he couldn't see his opponent.

The sharp blow at his head informed him of her whereabouts, as the woman harshly kicked Harry, aiming for his forehead. His head exploded in pain as he slid a few meters from the strike, ending up on his stomach, his glasses barely holding together.

"Mistake number one boy, never lose sight of your opponent." Her voice was clear as a day, even through the haze that settled in Harry's mind as he gasped for air.

However, Harry wasn't unfamiliar with pain, and had quite a good tolerance for it. It took around 10 seconds to recover. Strangely she didn't strike at his moment of weakness, which was more than what Harry was used to.

He shakily picked himself up, his wand still in his hand, his breathing shallow and uneven. The proud Gryffindor wasn't willing to let his opponent bring him down. He wanted to look death in the eyes, not with a submissive bend of his head.

A small smirk played on the woman's lips, her grey eyes sparkling in slight thoughtfulness. She let a small chuckle escape her. "You have spirit; at least you're not completely useless."

It had the intended effect. With an angry grimace, Harry released a volley of spells at her, ignoring the protests of his limbs. The witch masterfully evaded and blocked all of his attacks, slowly advancing to him, giving less and less room for spell work. The wizard could see what she was trying to do, realizing that he had no chance against her in physical combat. He started backing off, desperate to find an escape before he was cornered.

Deep inside though, he was feeling anger. A pure uncontrolled enraged beast roared its protests in his chest. He was Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, he defeated Voldemort many times. There was no way he was going to let this wench defeat him. With those thoughts motivating him, the wizard started striking with more aggression, his spells becoming more offensive and destructive. His green eyes gleamed in cold satisfaction as he saw the woman almost stumbling from the surprise of his sudden ferocity.

However, it faded quickly and the woman began recovering, her moves becoming swifter and stronger, matching his with power and agility. The room started to shake as Harry became angrier and angrier, putting more power behind his spells, yet his aim was starting to lose precision.

Finally, the witch took advantage of one of his rash and uncontrolled moves. She caught his out-stretched wand arm, pulling him in her direction. Harry felt himself losing his balance, unable to regain his footing as he was sent flying through the air. He landed painfully on his back, groaning as he felt something pressing on his throat, slowly draining the oxygen from his lungs.

"Mistake number two you little brat: never let your anger get to you, it can have painful consequences, especially if your opponent knows how to use it." Harry could faintly hear her voice, but the bigger concern to him at the moment was the hard knee that was pressing with increasing pressure on his throat.

Suddenly, the teen could feel a light probing in his mind. It took him a second to realize what it was, but when he did, his eyes shot open in panic. Harry thought back to his lessons with Snape and tried to remember what to do to protect his mind from the intruder. It was one thing when it was just an annoying hated teacher trying to get into his mind to embarrass him, but it was completely something else when it was an enemy that could kill him and then use his knowledge for her own evil causes.

_"Horcruxes" _Harry slammed that knowledge tightly before she was able to access it, burying it deep into his soul, unwilling to let it slip.

He heard a thoughtful hum from her, but she backed away from that section of his memories. Instead, she dwelled deep into his past. She stopped for a moment on that faithful night. The teen cringed as he saw his parents dying again, almost losing the contents of his stomach, but holding stubbornly strong. The pause was abnormally long, but after some moments she continued her probing of his memories. Harry could see his whole childhood passing in front of his eyes, feeling embarrassed and humiliated as he saw himself getting bullied by his relatives, realizing how pitiful he must've looked to a complete stranger.

He could almost feel some kind of a strange reaction from her, almost as if she was angry or upset, but he dismissed that. There was no way she would feel bad for him, she wanted to kill him after all.

After that came his years at Hogwarts. Harry felt happy yet extremely sad as he saw the many adventures he, Hermione and Ron went through as they grew up. It was still hard to believe that the tight friendship they had was broken after all these years. Harry could feel tears slowly pouring down his cheeks but he angrily tried to stop them, knowing that it was his choice to leave them and fight against Voldemort.

All of it didn't matter anymore anyway, Harry thought bitterly. He was going to die very soon, once the witch was done with draining all of his memories. He could almost see already a new Dark Lady running around with the knowledge of Horcruxes. Harry hoped that they would just kill each other with their hungry struggle for power.

Then out of nowhere, he felt the pressure on his throat lifted up, but he kept his eyes closed. Before, he wanted to face death with his eyes open, proudly and fearlessly, but now Harry felt the fight leaving his limbs. He was utterly beaten, there was nothing to fight for anymore.

"Get up, Harry." Her voice shook him out of his trance, noticing the sudden almost gentle quality of it.

His emerald-green eyes fluttered open as he stared at her with caution, yet he couldn't detect the previous hostility in her gray eyes.

His hand rose to his throat as he tried to gasp in a few breaths, feeling the bruise forming there. Harry could see her closing her eyes as if she was regretting her actions, and then she spoke.

"I may have been wrong about you. I think we have a lot of things to discuss, Harry Potter."

Any reviews, criticism or suggestions will be welcome. The quantity of reviews will effect the speed of the uploading.


	5. Chapter 4  Unexpected Admissions

**Chapter 4**

The stunned silence in the tent was almost suffocating, both Hermione and Ron stood rigidly, staring at the spot where their best friend they just betrayed stood only a moment ago.

Hermione's eyes were wide open with shock as tears kept pouring down her cheeks, her face frozen in a disbelieving expression. Her shoulders started shaking again as she started muttering to herself over and over again.

_"No this didn't happen, please tell me I'm dreaming. Please tell me this is a nightmare"._

Hearing his female best friend's muttering shook Ron out of his own shock. He faintly blinked a few times, as if coming out of a deep sleep.

The red-hair turned to the young witch. He looked unsure if he should try to talk to her, when he considered her state.

_But she chose me,_ a voice in his head argued, _surely there was a reason for that, and now that Potter is not here..._

Ron nodded to himself, he agreed with the reasoning of that voice that kept him company through a lot in this useless adventure.

"Hermione?" He flinched almost immediately after calling her name, as Hermione turned to face him in a dangerous speed, an angry snarl on her face as she advanced to him. Ron had the distinct feeling that he made a small mistake.

"**You!** You insufferable idiot! You stupid baboon! I hate you!" The witch spat at him while advancing towards him, her wand starting to dangerously glow as her tear-filled brown eyes sparkled with anger.

Ron back away in surprise and panic, stuttering. "Wha-? Hermione?" Looking at his friend in confusion that only enraged her even more.

"Shut up! You bastard, why did you make me choose? How can you be so selfish?! Now Harry is alone and he hates us!" She broke down as she said the last part, her grief finally overtaking her anger.

Only to be replaced with his own, Ron suddenly felt angry beyond belief, hearing her talking about their friend even when he was gone. Without thinking about her state, he started shouting back at her.

"Oh so now you're suddenly regretting it? Why did you choose me if you wanted to stay with _him_? You know he was leading us in a purposeless chase; Harry had no idea what he was doing! He was just endangering our lives! I _saved _us from certain death by getting away from him."

His proud expression for finally getting that off his chest was wiped clean by an angry slap from Hermione, who stood up when he started talking and lost her control from her disgust. Her eyes blazed as she digested what he said, she looked ready to kill him.

"I knew I made the wrong choice! You are selfish and immature! Because of your moaning and whining, Harry is most likely going to die, alone against Voldemort. Merlin, I can't believe I actually loved you." She covered her mouth with a gasp as the words came out, clearly mortified by the slip of tongue.

His face showed his surprise at her admission, his cheeks getting redder, and not only from her harsh slap.

"Y-You love me?" Ron asked hesitantly, his voice slightly shaking, his blue eyes looking tired yet hopeful.

She sighed tiredly, the fight and anger completely leaving her limbs. All that was left was an exhausted shell of a human, shoulders hunched and her head cast down.

"Your blindness still amazes me Ronald, even after six years." She stated, not even bothering to lift her head in his direction.

"Yes, I loved you for a long time Ron; I fell for your positive goofy personality. For your honourable and proud streak, willing to overlook your dense and jealous tendencies, ready to accept for whom you were." Ron smiled at her, feeling his hopes rising, yet she still refused to meet his gaze.

"Can you even imagine how hurtful it was for me when it took you so long to even realize I was a girl and try to ask me to the Yule Ball? The first time Viktor asked me, I refused, I wanted to wait for you to ask me, since that was what I wanted above anything else." Her voice didn't take a hostile tone; it just became weary, as if the anger disappeared after some time, as if it didn't matter anymore.

"But it never came, you preferred to gawk after a girl who was much older than you. It's funny that she married Bill in the end, must've been a joyful day for you, no?" The red-hair flinched from her accusing tone, his ears getting red since he knew it was the truth.

"Then when I finally thought that you were getting more mature, taking responsibility with DA and paying attention to something other than Quidditch or food. You just had to prove me wrong, didn't you? Turning your full attention on Lavender the moment she showed even the slightest interest in you, ignoring all the signs I was trying to give you."

She finally stood up, turning her back to him as she worked with her wand. All the objects in the tent flew around, settling themselves into neat piles that arranged themselves inside her hand-bag.

"And this journey, of course. Didn't we talk about how we'll stick with Harry no matter what? That the Horcruxes were too important and needed to be destroyed, that Harry needed our help? But no, of course once you were away from your comfortable bed and food, none of those promises mattered." Her voice contained enough venom to make his heart ache and lower his head in shame.

He tried to talk, to protest and argue that staying with their male best friend would've resulted in their death and that they were better without him, but even to him these arguments sounded hollow and pitiful. Ron wanted to apologize to Hermione, to beg her to give him another chance now that he knew about her feelings. But, when he opened his mouth she held out a hand to stop him, looking tired and impatient.

"Save it Ron, I chose you just because of the sudden moment of a desperate attempt to gain your affection, but the only thing I achieved from this is to insure Harry's hatred and resentment of me. Whatever love or relationship we could've had is not worth our best friend's death. I just thought it would be fair for you to know what you destroyed with your ignorant actions." She turned away from his again, not seeing the expression of misery on the teen's face.

They spent the next five minutes like that, Hermione gathering their belongings with a swish of her wand while Ron looked around cluelessly, unable to find anything he could help with.

With a final flick of her wand, the witch turned to her friend, not even trying to make eye contact so he won't see the tears in her brown exhausted eyes.

"Let's go then, the best place I could think of to go to is Bill and Fleur's house. It is isolated enough and I'm sure us apparating there will go unnoticed. I assume you can apparate us there?" She looked at his general direction, waiting for the already expected answer.

Ron nodded mutely, giving one last look to the interior of the tent where he spent his last months at, where he made a fatal mistake that will never be forgiven. He suddenly realized that he will need to face his family, his parents and siblings... Ginny. The red-hair gulped, knowing that he brought the rage of his whole family on himself.

As Hermione was working her magic on the tent, both of them standing in the chilly November night, Ron wondered what made him snap. Was it really them not including him in their conversation of the sudden revelation? Was it his jealousy of Harry-Bloody-Potter and his suspicion of his two best friends becoming something more than just that?

_Of course not Ron, don't bring yourself down so much, you knew you were right to try to get away from Potter. It's her stupidity and naive trust that doesn't let her see what you see Ron, you can still get the witch that you desire._

'No, that's not true; she hates me enough and I will not risk whatever I've left with her after this. It was your advice that caused this, don't expect me to listen to you again you git.' Ron argued passionately with the voice that accompanied him since they found the locket, giving him advice to gain Hermione's trust and affection.

_Suit yourself Ronald, you know that you'll be seeking me out soon enough. You need me._

"Ronald!" Hermione's snappish voice prevented him from answering back as he turned to her questionably, seeing her looking at him expectantly with a raised eyebrow. He tried to smile sheepishly but all his face could morph into was a grimace. He offered his hand and she took it unemotionally.

With a sad sigh, he concentrated on Bill's house and he felt the usual effects of apparition. Ron was wearily ready to face the music, or at least he hoped so.

**Reviews are always wanted and are more than welcome, your opinion matters here. Thank you.**


	6. Chapter 5 A Wolf's Howl

**Chapter 5**

"I have no idea where you are, and I don't have a way to find out. But even so, I wish I could talk to you, there is so much to say, so much to apologize and thank for."

Deep breath.

"I know I reacted violently when you talked to me, I was so sure I was right. Believing that you're doing the right thing seems to do that a lot. I thought I was protecting her and the baby, while actually I was denying them the happy life they deserve."

A sound in the background, ignoring it.

"I still don't understand what mission Dumbledore could've possibly given you that made you decide to drop from Hogwarts. But from what I heard about what's been going on in the school, I can't be more thankful that you did. I don't think I would be able to live knowing the son of my best friend is endangered in our own childhood school."

His sensitive ears picking out the sound of footsteps outside the bedroom, not turning to it yet.

"And I miss you pup, I heard from Bill that Ron and Hermione turned up in his house a few days ago, yet you weren't with them. They said they wanted to arrange a meeting with all the remaining order-members and answer all of our questions. I'm worried, what happened? You were an inseparable trio back when I was a professor. The only reason that comes to my mind to why you wouldn't be with them is that either you're captured or dead."

He felt her arms around him, drawing him to her as his breathing came in fast and short inhales.

"Please Harry, give me something that will tell me you're alright, that you're alright and well. I don't think I'll be able to survive, not after James and Lily, not after Sirius... I just won't survive."

His voice got caught in his throat, feeling her hugging him and whispering comforting words in his ear, slowly drawing him to their bed.

"I'm sorry Dora, I'm just worried about him." He apologised as he looked into her blue eyes, seeing only love and understanding in them.

"I know you are Remus, but you know Harry is a strong kid, he'll get through whatever he got caught in." She said gently, slowly massaging his tense shoulders, making him slowly relax, in the way only she could.

"Yes, he's not James' son only by name." He allowed a brief grin come on his face, kissing her for a moment.

"It worries me though, the fact that Hermione and Ron came without him. It just gives me a bad feeling, as if something is extremely wrong with this situation." He shared his fears with her, a thing that has been bothering him since the news of their return.

Dora hummed and nodded. "What are you suspecting? You did know the three of them best." She asked with curiosity.

"That's what worries me, if he was captured or killed, they wouldn't wait that long to announce that, I know them. But if they're holding it out like that. I'm afraid to think that but what if they left him?"

When she moved to protest he raised up his hand slowly.

"No, please let me finish. I know Hermione, I taught her and I saw how much she cared about Harry. If he ever got captured or murdered, she would've said something much earlier, to try to save him."

The werewolf stopped for a moment, seeing that the woman was listening to him attentively.

"It just feels fishy to me, as if something happened, something terrible. The only possible reason I can see of them separating and then trying to hold the information for that long was if they had a fight and his friends decided to leave him."

The witch looked reluctant to agree with him, wanting to argue with him.

"You sound so sure about that, what is it that makes you certain?" The brown-haired witch asked. Her forehead was crunched in concentration, a thing that he found to be absolutely adorable.

"It's just a thing I heard from them and that Harry himself told me. Dumbledore assigned the mission only for Harry, his friends tagged along only after convincing Harry. It doesn't make sense to me at all, what could possibly change their opinion? I would understand Ron; he is a loyal friend, but he wouldn't be used to a journey like that. But, what about Hermione? Her loyalty to her friends is legendary. I just can't imagine anything that could change that." He stated heatedly, it was obvious that the question and not knowing the answer bothered him.

She stroked his hair gently, again making the tension leave his limbs.

"Whatever it is Remus, we're going to find out tomorrow at the order's meeting, we should rest now." She told him while smiling tenderly.

He smiled back at her, putting a hand on her pregnant stomach. "Yes, we all should." He whispered just as tenderly and they lay on the bed.

However after a while, Remus realized that he was not ready to sleep yet, his mind was too occupied. And since he didn't want to bother Dora from her comfortable sleep, he simply lay there.

Since his argument with Harry, a lot have changed. At first, the werewolf was angry; he was enraged that the son of his best friend was unwilling to see the noble thing he was trying to do. But after a while of repeating the conversation in his head, he started seeing the reasoning of his pup.

It took him a long time of reflecting on the talks he had with Sirius even before to finally come to a realization and see what the people close to him kept trying to tell him. Remus finally saw that with the war, denying his feelings and hurting Dora was unforgivable. Knowing that he wouldn't be there to protect them if something happened tore the werewolf from the inside. He grew a new found determination for his son to have a safe life, without any death eaters or Voldemort looming in the shadows.

Remus still had something to ask Harry, which was partly the reason why he wanted to see him so desperately. Something that he knew he could ask only from Harry, he really hoped that—

A sudden green flare of the fireplace drew him from his thoughts. With a swift practiced movement, he was on his feet in seconds, his wand facing the direction of the fireplace, his eyes aware of any small movement.

Even as he recognized Kingsley Shacklebot's grave face the grip on his wand didn't become any less tight. Remus could hear his wife waking up behind him but didn't dare to turn around, intent to deal with the possible threat.

"The young green replaces the wise blue, the fiery red phoenix morphs into a snow white owl. A long fall signals the start of an even longer journey" Kingsley's deep voice rumbled in the small bedroom, the words making the werewolf finally relax his grip on his wand.

He chuckled. "Never really understood why you chose this password Kingsley. It makes us sound like a band of desperate fan boys and girls."

Remus could see the auror smirking slightly. "I'm sure you'll understand in time Remus, holding onto hope is better than becoming hopeless."

The werewolf nodded. "What's going on Kingsley?" He asked worryingly, wondering if someone else died. _Please don't let it be Harry,_ He prayed, even if he felt selfish for wishing that.

"I thought it was important for me to contact you right away Remus, it couldn't wait until morning. We have tracked some abnormal activity in a very important area, and we need to investigate it as fast as possible." It was extremely important, Remus observed, if the usually collected auror was talking rapidly and with clear excitement. But, he still had a final question on his mind.

"But why is it so important Kingsley? Where is this activity coming from?" The former professor asked.

The dark-skinned auror took a deep breath before replying.

"It's Godric's Hollow, Remus. The activity is coming from the Potters' house."

**I just love cliffhangers, don't you? :P Reviews are welcome and will be replied to.**


	7. Chapter 6  Confusion At Its Best

**Important AN - Hey guys, how's everyone's summer going so far? With all the heat waves :) I decided to make this AN because of the story's first milestone - 10000 words. Now I know it's not much, but with the success and positive feedback of the story, I wanted to just thank you guys.  
>I thank every single person who took the time to read and enjoy my story, the 29 Favourites and 54 Alerts are more than heartwarming :)<br>A special thank you for everyone who reviewed, with a total of 29 reviews so far, your kind and encouraging words always helped me stay motivated. I really want to thank the people who actually reviewed multiple chapters and showed their support for a long time, especially to Janelly Slytherin, who have been here pretty much from the start and reviewed almost every single chapter, thank you :)  
>Well a lot of plot twists are coming up, the story should be picking up the pace soon, so get ready :D<strong>

**Chapter 6**

Harry stared at the stranger for a moment, not completely sure how to react to her sudden change of heart.

Before he could stop himself, he blurted out questionably: "Aren't you going to kill me?" Wincing only when the words left his mouth, berating himself for basically asking for it.

She shook her head negatively. "It wasn't my intention in the first place Harry. To be completely frank with you, I'm surprised it took me so long to recognize you, but my memory has been failing me lately." Her words sounded almost wistful, yet her eyes kept their piercing quality, set on the black-haired teen.

"Well I am the boy-who-lived. So, I'm not really surprised you know my name, unless it's something else?" Harry asked hesitantly, his throat still raw from the rough treatment it received moments ago.

The witch snorted and looked at him strangely. "The boy-who-lived? Is that the best they could come up with? Reminds me why I decided leave the magical world, it's full of uncreative and old-fashioned farts." She laughed for a moment, a sound that surprised Harry once again, the light and careless attitude of people in this town felt so different to him. He couldn't even remember when was the last time he was able to produce or even hear a genuine laugh.

Her voice turned softer. "No, Harry. I should've recognized you, you look too much like your father that it actually gives me chills, yet you have your-"

"My mother's eyes, yes I know." He finished the sentence he heard too many times to count anymore. The only people who actually bothered to notice it were close friends of his parents; Sirius (his heart clenched in pain before he was able to prevent it), Remus and many of the Hogwarts professors. That meant that this woman was most likely very close to his parents, yet she almost killed him. Something just didn't feel right.

"I know that my actions do not make sense Harry, but I'm afraid you'll have to accept them as it is, you are not exactly in a position to argue with that."

The teen felt angry since her words sounded too much like Dumbledore's when he hid things from Harry, but he realized that he had no choice.

"Okay. Can I at least know how you knew my parents?" Harry asked, letting only a small amount of irritated sarcasm sneak into his voice.

She ignored it, preferring to look behind him, her eyes glazing from whatever memories she was reliving.

"Well, believe it or not Harry, I was quite a good friend of Lily back in Hogwarts. Her Ravenclaw study buddy." She smiled fondly and the teen was too caught off guard by that revelation to comment in any way.

"These were some good happy years, blocked from the war by the unbreakable Hogwarts walls. Without a care or worry, just teens in a one big happy family." She smiled sadly. "I miss that."

"You are looking at the official matchmaker of Hogwarts, young Harry, and the main reason why your parents got together." She winked at him playfully. But when he tried to demand what she meant by that, she simply shushed him.

"There is no time Harry, we both have to leave very soon and I still have a lot to talk about with you." The woman said sternly, successfully shutting him up.

"You see, by deciding to part from your friends Harry, you provoked quite a reaction in the depths of magic. Fate has quite a big influence on that, and that argument you had with your friends bended the normally linear flow of time." The witch explained slowly, knowing that it would be hard to grasp something like that.

"Wait. So you're saying that some events were already planned and that I somehow changed them? I thought the future wasn't set in stone." Harry asked, finding himself intrigued by the subject.

She nodded in agreement. "Yes, that is true, the future is vague and not set in stone until it happens. But, there are always some events that can be foreseen even before they happen, which is what prophecies and divination are based on. Some living beings can glance into that plane of mystic energy to be able to foretell important events that shine in that 'plane'. But, these events always shift and change, which makes divination unreliable at best."

Harry frowned as he tried to understand what she was trying to say, finally speaking after a few thoughtful moments.

"So what you're saying is that there's this 'plane' where, by combining some important factors like people and their emotions, the most likely events are predicted?" The wizard asked, not completely sure yet if he got it.

However the grey-eyed witch smiled at him.

"Yes Harry, that's basically what it does. Most changes are unnoticed by anyone but the seers, while others can send alarm bells through many magical beings' consciousnesses. It depends on how drastically the outcome changes. This one has been most likely the most major one I ever felt, not even Voldemort's death or rebirth had such a major impact on the plane."

He looked sharply at her. "Wouldn't an end or a start of a war have a big enough impact on this 'plane'?"

She shook her head negatively. "These events were already predicted beforehand, don't forget the prophecy Harry."

The teen jerked in surprise and looked at her. "You know about the prophecy?" He asked suspiciously.

She chuckled slightly. "Don't forget I was a close friend of your mom, Harry. After all, it was me who pressured Dumbledore into telling your parents about the prophecy when he considered to withhold that information from them, manipulative old fart." She huffed in annoyance.

"Heard he died."

"You knew about the prophecy before my parents? What-"

She raised her hand to halt him.

"No time Harry. All I wanted to tell you is that the plan you have in mind is the best one I've heard in a long time, and believe me, if I could I would support you all the way through. But, I can't. With this major change, you're presented with a chance to follow out with your plan and change the face of the magical world forever, either you realize it or not."

Her sudden seriousness caught him off guard, and he felt slightly intimidated as she grew more and more passionate.

"You can't do it alone Harry, you need people that you can rely on and trust completely. You will have to face many hardships that you can't even imagine yet, believe me, I know, but you can never give up."

She stopped suddenly, cocking her head to his left and staring intently at the wall for a moment, her teeth clenching in frustration. The witch turned to him again, this time speaking more urgently.

"You are the only hope of the magical world, without you, it'll burn in its own devised fires. You can't stay any longer. Listen to me closely, there are seven presences closing to your parents' house; two of them seem to be favouring the light side, while five of the other ones are marked with Voldemort's foul mark. I am guessing they have tracked the unusual activity that was caused by your arrival. You need to get there fast and help your two friends, this is the start of your new journey, and you will know what to do once you face it."

Before he could even say anything, she hurled at him to go and physically dragged him out of her shop. She slammed the door in his face.

Harry stood confused in the middle of the still crowded street. It was emptying from the sudden light rain that arrived and covered the sunny sky.

For a few precious moments, the young wizard stood speechless on the pavement, his emerald green eyes staring bemusedly at the shut door. Then, when her words finally sunk in, he jerked violently and broke into a run towards the Potters' house.

_Two of my friends are coming to the house? Could it be __them__? No she said that it was a new journey, I really doubt it would be them. Wait, I don't even know her name, or anything really. _Harry thought while still sprinting towards the house, realizing how little information he gained.

_All she did was to speak in riddles and confuse me even farther. I guess I'm just going to have to find out. _

He barged through the front door without even thinking of the consequences of that action. His wand settling on the two shadowed figures he saw in the room.

"Stop!" He shouted as they turned to him, his next word coming out in an instinct and making even himself feel silly. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Harry?"

"Remus? Kingsley?" The teen started questionably at the two men, his wand slowly lowering down. Not completely sure if he was glad to see them.

"Harry, are you al-"

"Get down!" Kingsley cut off Remus' question as several spells were sent in their way from behind them. They ducked and raised a few shields to avoid the sudden assault, backing off as the ferocity and suddenness of the attack slammed down on them.

The chaos blinded Harry in many ways; he could only see blurs as everything moved rapidly around him. The shrill shrieks of a death eater woman and grunts of the men blended together into an explosion of sounds. The pain and exhaustion quickly caught up with him from the spells and flying particles in the air. The smell of sweat and burnt wood agonizingly suffocated him. The taste of blood in his mouth slowly and steadily overwhelmed his senses. And above anything else, he could feel his magic reacting viciously with the sudden static-like charge, moving around in Harry's body like a giddy school girl.

Harry's last thought before darkness swallowed him was that in a twisted way, this was exactly how he would expect a drug high to feel.

**Reviews, as always, are welcome and will be replied to. Let's try to get it to 50, please? Thank you :)**


	8. Chapter 7 Consequences

**Chapter 7**

"Alright, Hermione, Ron, what is going on? I think we've waited enough, where is Harry?" The impatient question was raised for the thousandth time already and it was still met with support by the other occupants of the Shell Cottage's living room. The whole Weasley family was there, as well as a few other remaining Order members like Tonks and Hestia Jones.

Hermione bit her lip nervously and stole a quick glance to the door once again, as if she was waiting for someone to come through it. Ron was sitting next to her. His expression was sheepish and horribly guilty with a hint of defiance. He was unable to look at his parents or sibling in the eyes.

It has been like that for the past hour, as more and more members of the remaining order came into the house, wanting to hear what the two teens had to say, while said teens desperately tried to postpone the start of the meeting.

Ginny was still in Hogwarts but she was expected to stay at home when she returned from the school at the winter holidays.

They were all eager to make sure that the two were alright, as they have not seen them in months. It was since Bill's and Fleur's wedding was ruined by the death eaters, resulting in the escape of the three best friends.

It was heartbreaking for the Weasleys to see their son and brother, as well as his two best friends who were considered as part of the family, running away and disappearing for months. Ginny took it the hardest, finding herself suddenly without knowing what happened to her brother, her protective boyfriend and one of her best female friends. It took a lot of the already broken family's efforts to bring her out of it, and she promised them to keep fighting in the school, despite their horrified protests. Her active participation with the still loyal students' created army, Dumbledore's Army, and her recent rebellious actions made her parents reach the only possible decision they could. They will make her stay home and not return to school for her second term.

Molly and Arthur knew that their only daughter will be more than enraged by their decision, but they decided that it was the best one they could make for the safety of the family and her own. The parents hoped that with Hermione's and Ron's return, she would be less angry. However, they wondered where was Harry, knowing that Ginny would be frantic to know the whereabouts of her crush.

Molly was aware however, that it wasn't a crush anymore. She knew that her daughter and Harry already got into a relationship the last school year. It was more than obvious to her, as a mother of seven, even if Ginny _forgot_ to mention it. She also saw the change at the end of that year, after Professor Dumbledore's unfortunate death. It was as if Harry was trying to hold himself away, while Ginny was secretly determined to make him give in. The red-haired woman wasn't angry at Harry for trying to end it, she could clearly see that it hurt him just as much.

She knew the green-eyed teen quite well, as she has known him for years since she helped him on the platform. She could guess that it was his protective heroic nature coming to play. Molly knew that the former Headmaster gave his student some kind of a very important yet dangerous mission and she resented him for that. It enraged her that the responsibility that Harry got made him give up his education and relationship, making him go on a quest to most likely save the world.

Arthur was drawn to a different thing: his son's strange behaviour. The young man who was sitting in front of him seemed to be only a mere shadow of what he was the last time his father saw him. Arthur did expect him to be rugged and tired, but it was his eyes that caught his attention. It was said that it was possible to see the soul of a person through his or her eyes, but Arthur wondered if it was possible to see more than one soul. It was hard to explain, but it seemed as if two completely different beings raged inside his son; day and night, light and darkness, good and bad.

His blue eyes reflected hate and love, resentment and acceptance, hope and conflict. It greatly disturbed the older red-haired wizard and he vowed to find out what was going on as soon as possible.

"Well Professor Lupin and Kingsley are not here and I wouldn't want to repeat it over and over, I'm sure that-" Hermione's babbling was interrupted by Tonks.

"Like I already told you Hermione, Remus and Kingsley went off to investigate some strange activity last night. I'm not sure when they'll return since I don't know the details but I'm sure I can relay the information, unless you want to wait for Merlin-knows how many hours." Hermione looked as if that offer greatly appealed her but she sighed a moment later, realizing they had no choice.

"Alright. Well, I think we should first tell you about the mission professor Dumbledore gave us, what do you think Ron?" The witch looked at him for a moment, he offered no answer to the confusion of the room and Hermione hurriedly continued.

"Right. Well, you see, Voldemort-" A big flinch from the whole room save to a few people. "-always had been fascinated by the concept of immortality and he was driven to find a way to achieve it. There is a branch in the Dark Arts, one of the darkest ones, that is called a Horcrux. It's a physical vessel that can be a living thing or an object that keeps a part of the caster's soul inside of it."

All of the occupants of the room looked shocked by that, as they were not aware that a thing like that was even possible to do.

"You mean that You-Know-Who made one of these Horcrux-thingies and that he's actually immortal?" Fred asked quietly, not even a trace of his usual mischievous nature evident on his face.

The young woman nodded sadly. "He didn't make only one, Professor Dumbledore suspected he made at least seven, one of them is already destroyed and we found another one at the Ministry."

Mr. Weasley suddenly had a realization. "Ah, so it was you who broke into the Ministry. I have wondered about the strange behaviour and complete chaos that day. It was a few days before we decided to go into hiding after Christmas." He lowered his head in sadness as Mrs. Weasley caressed his arm in support.

Ron raised his head and looked at his father in surprise. "We are going into hiding?" He asked.

His mother answered. "Yes Ron, our association to the order, Dumbledore and Harry has made it too dangerous for us to stay in the open. Your father and I have decided that it would be safer to stay hidden until things will calm down."

An almost unnoticeable surge of anger flashed in Ron's eyes, making his parents frown as they were the only ones who saw it.

"But, what about Harry? Where is he Ron?" Bill asked his younger brother, seeing that there seemed to be something wrong with him.

Ron didn't reply, preferring to look at his brothers and parents mutely, his face set in a conflicted expression. His mouth moved soundlessly for a few moments before he gave up, preferring to look away and ignore the question. Hermione seemed to be in the same state, albeit with much more tears.

"Is he... Is he dead?" asked with fear, not wanting to believe that, only to sigh in relief when they both shook their heads negatively.

"Was he captured?" Shake of the head.

"Injured?" Negative.

"Did you... Did you abandon him?" The whole room was set into a sudden silence as the question slipped through Tonks' lips, as she looked at them strangely.

The silence remained for what felt like forever, the tension building as everyone digested that possibility, still looking at the blank Ron and shaking Hermione. A jerky quick nod from the already sobbing young witch set the room into a complete chaos.

Chairs falling down as everyone suddenly stood up, shouting and yelling, anger and tears.

"You idiots! You've left your best friend to die alone!"

"I saved us from dying with him! You should be all glad!"

"Shut up you idiot boy, 'Arry iz too brave to let that 'appen!"

"Remus was right all along, Merlin I can't believe this!"

"People please! Calm down! I have much more important news." The door burst open as Dedalus Diggle came in breathing heavily, his forehead glittering in sweat and his eyes shining in a wild desperate light.

"What can be more important than Harry being abandoned to face You-Know-Who by himself?!" demanded angrily, tears glittering in her emotional eyes.

"This!" The small wizard yelled as he waved frantically the news paper in his hands. He spread it out on the table. "It is an emergency edition, just came out a few minutes ago, they are giving out free copies to everyone!"

On the main page there were three pictures, the main big one featuring Harry, looking away from the flash of the camera and trying to get away from the shot hurriedly. The second and third ones showed Remus Lupin, taken in Hogwarts when he was still a professor there, and Kingsley Shacklebot, standing behind the muggle Minister.

The headline was magnified in big bold black letters, having an excited and condemning quality:

**"HARRY POTTER (UNDESIREBLE NO.1), REMUS LUPIN AND KINGSLEY SHACKLEBOT FOUND DEAD IN GODRIC'S HOLLOW - ANOTHER VICTORY AGAINST THE PEACE-DISRUPTORS."**

A shocked silence lasted for many moments, only to be broken by an agonized cry from the pregnant Tonks.

**Stick around to find out what happened with that ;) Any reviews or criticism are welcome, thank you.**


	9. Chapter 8  The Crux of the Downfall

**Chapter 8**

Bone white fingers twiddled with the crystal wineglass, the red liquid swirling inside in a vortex of bitter sweetness. The owner of the fingers was quite a terrifying sight for any onlooker. His white completion contrasted violently with his royal black robes, making him look like the grim reaper himself. His predator-like red eyes regarded the four kneeling men before him, his face set in a cold mask that betrayed nothing but the lightest sneers.

"So this is the _legendary _team that killed the terrifying Boy-Who-Lived. Silver Death, isn't it?" Voldemort asked them almost mockingly, pronouncing their group's name in a long drawl.

One of the hooded men stood up, clearly the leader of the group as he stepped forward, uncovering his face from his hood. It was a young male, most likely in his late twenties, his black hair was cut short and green eyes remained neutral, unaffected by the Dark Lord's mocking.

"Yes, My Lord, Silver Death is the group that followed Harry Potter and his partners and killed all of them."

The Dark Lord looked angry for a moment, but calmed himself down a few seconds later, leaning forward and lacing his thin fingers together. A slow quiet hiss escaped his colourless lips. A huge snake crawled out of the darkness that was surrounding most of the room. The serpent slowly made its way between the four figures, coming dangerously close to them, watching them hungrily. A cruel smirk graced the dark wizards' face, he could literally smell the suppressed fear emitting from them.

"I truly hope that you don't mind sharing the details, Mr. Animus. Nagini is eager to hear how you've been able to get rid of a pest that has been bothering me for years over years." Voldemort said lazily, his disinterest seem to be almost forced.

Animus closed his eyes for a moment to suppress the shudder from the proximity of the large serpent to him. Releasing a deep breath as his eyes opened sharply, the memory coming to his mind in a sudden rush of colours, smells and sounds.

"Of course, sir. We are the Silver Death, a group of professional hit-wizards and witches. We are not from England, but your bounty on Mr. Potter has caught our attention. Surprisingly or not so much, it wasn't hard to start finding breadcrumbs he left of his location. He is, or better was, merely a teenage wizard. We have followed and tracked him for around two weeks-"

"And you haven't bothered contacting me once you had his location? That is quite intolerable, Mr. Animus." Voldemort's voice was cold and calm, but the few death eaters in the room could easily hear the furious undertone, and prepared themselves eagerly for a show.

The three kneeling figures' shoulders tensed, ready to defend their leader in case of any aggression towards him, but it wasn't needed.

"Sir, I do not mean to be disrespectful but please remember that I am merely your temporary employee, not your servant. Bluntly putting it, we are independent mercenaries, you give us a mission, we'll do it with our own resources and when it's done, we'll just come for the reward."

The Dark Lord barely could hold his anger in check from being scolded like a child by that fool. His bloody red eyes shone in rage as Nagini's movements became more violent, ready to strike. Calm green clashed with harsh red for many tense moments, the death eaters stood silently in the shadows, expecting to see the wizard's broken body hitting the floor at any second. They were proven absolutely wrong when the only thing their lord did was to hiss angrily, "Continue."

Suddenly the Decrowning Plan sounded much more attractive to the more doubtful death eaters.

"Very well. After tracking the boy for two weeks, we finally got an opening. We aren't completely sure of the details, but it seemed as if he had a major argument with his two friends and he decided to leave, which is why they weren't with him when we assaulted him."

Voldemort couldn't hide his surprise. "He left the mudblood and blood-traitor? Hah. So much for his adoration of Dumbledore's 'greatest power'." He sneered in cold amusement.

The dark-haired man nodded. "Yes, it was quite odd. We weren't able to find out what was the cause of their argument, but it was his fatal mistake. He apparated to Godric's Hollow, his late parents' house I believe? Mr. Potter left it shortly, not even bothering to set any protective wards around it. We set our ambush right in the house, intending to wait for his inevitable return. But before the boy returned, we already detected two wizards coming towards the house. The traces attracted more attention than we expected at first."

"It was Remus Lupin, former Hogwarts professor, werewolf. And Kingsley Shacklebot, quite a renowned senior auror, known for his leadership, and truly a wasteful death. They entered the house and we decided to wait, suspecting they were here to meet Mr. Potter. We were in luck that the boy came quickly, Mr. Shacklebot was starting to suspect that someone else was in the house."

"His arrival was their downfall in a way. He made his presence clear the moment he entered the house, drawing the two men to the front foyer, a deadly mistake. The foyer was a very open place without any objects to provide cover. It was more than easy enough to simply send a volley of spells at them. The 'fight' was short and predictable, their defences held only for a few moments."

Animus stopped for a moment, closing his eyes, a grimace of regret setting on his face.

"However, we didn't expect the ancient worn foundations of the house get affected by the bursts of magic. Unfortunately, they collapsed. Most of the house was absolutely destroyed, while some walls remained standing. We found the corpses of Harry Potter and his companions in the rubble, as well as three of our partners who were unable to escape the toppling house."

A silence hung for a few moments, only to be cut by low quiet chuckling. Voldemort threw his head back and let out a maniacal laughter that carried through the dark room and echoed horribly.

"How ironic: The unbeatable Boy-Who-Lived losing his life in the same house that his parents did, by a collapsing building, it was simply meant to be!" Another burst of laughter escaped him, as he slowly clapped.

Animus nodded at his three partners and they brought in three bodies, dropping them off in front of Voldemort. The teen's corpse attracted immediate attention, his young features pulled in a pained grimace, his limbs bent in awkward positions.

The Dark Lord focused on him, observing silently the final proof of his nemesis' death, almost unwilling to believe it was possible. With a sudden animalistic snarl dark wizard launched himself out of his throne, jabbing his bone-white wand at the corpse of the Boy-Who-Lived.

The body was sent flying towards the closest wall, crashing against it with a sharp crack of broken bones. The corpse thrashed around helplessly as many cuts and gashes appeared on it, caused by the violent slashes of Voldemort, who had a trail of foam coming out of his mouth by that point.

"YOU SEE? NO ONE can defy the Dark Lord Voldemort without suffering the consequences!" His crazed voice rang clearly in the silent room, its occupants looking in shock at the obviously mad wizard.

The silence lasted for many minutes, only to be interrupted by the slashes of Voldemort's wand and the sickening sound of breaking bones and ripping flesh. Many of the death eaters were able to exit the room quietly, unable to hold their lunches' contents.

Animus cleared his throat uncomfortably, trying not to look at the blood and gore covered Voldemort nor at the remains of what once was Harry Potter.

"Before me and my partners part sir, I still had a piece of information that I'm more than sure you'd like to know."

When he saw that he had the sick wizard's attention, he continued.

"Before Mr. Potter's death, I was able to hear a few words exchanged between him and the werewolf and auror. Mr. Shacklebot demanded him to escape while they covered him, while Mr. Lupin agreed and said that the destruction of the... Horcruxes was too important. Mr. Potter disagreed and claimed that five of them were already destroyed..." He trailed off uncertainly.

Voldemort's joyful expression was wiped off the moment he heard the word 'Horcruxes' only to be replaced by a mix of rage and terror.

"Get out." The cold words escaped his lips, his eyes glowing in a light that made every single occupant of the room shudder in fear. With a quick nod of acceptance, Animus and his three partners quickly made their way out without sparing even one glance to the deadly angry wizard behind them.

Red eyes swept over the room, observing his servants as they tried to humble themselves and try to look as unattractive as possible for a torture.

"You have an hour to find out which one of your comrades is going to suffer my wrath. You better find someone, if all of you don't want to suffer the worst fate any of you can even try to imagine." He spat at them in distaste before storming out of the room.

A figure stepped forward once their Lord was gone. His cold and calm grey eyes regarded the remaining death eaters in the room.

"We are another step closer to the realization of the Decrowning Plan. Pass the message around; we strike once the Dark Lord is too distracted with his own little problems."

**Reviews and criticism are more than welcome. Thank you.**


	10. Chapter 9  Dead? But I feel alright!

**Chapter 9**

Emerald green eyes fluttered open and stared at the dark ceiling for a few moments, only to be closed with a groan as a sudden bright light filled the room. He could hear two matching groans answering his as his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden light change.

His initial instinct was to check for his wand. To his relief, he found it lying a few inches away from his right hand and he quickly picked it up.

Harry swiftly scrambled to his feet once he remembered that he wasn't the only one in the room, pointing his wand at the two figures that were still shaking off their disorientation. He relaxed his grip once he realized it was Remus and Kingsley. Harry frowned thoughtfully, trying to recall what happened before he lost consciousness.

It came back rushing to him; the argument, Godric's Hollow, the odd witch and their talk, the ambush inside the house, getting overwhelmed. The teen looked around nervously, looking for any signs of threat, finding not even one in the spacious room. It looked suspiciously familiar, the gray walls and overall dark features of the room made Harry feel nostalgic in a very odd kind of a sense.

The young wizard shook himself out of his thoughts, leaving them for later, preferring to go and check over the two older men. The three of them were absolutely unharmed, not even sustaining one injury from the attack. Kingsley and Remus agreed that before losing consciousness, they heard a very loud crash and felt the whole house shaking. There was no sign of their assaulters. However, one important question was raised by the three of them:

"Where are we? And what happened?"

Harry looked around again for a moment, and it suddenly clicked.

"This is the room where I stayed at before my 3rd year, in the Leaky Cauldron!" He exclaimed in shock, seeing that the two wizards did start to recognize the general interior of the famed wizard pub.

"This isn't a safe place, we are in the heart of the death eater community." The former senior auror stated while trying to look for a safe escape route.

Remus looked at Harry for a few seconds with an unreadable look in his eyes. Before he could open his mouth to speak, something caught his attention and he pointed at it.

"What is that on the table?" The trio looked at the random items that were scattered on it. When Harry recognized the familiar old piece of parchment of the Marauders' Map, he rushed to pick it up, only to be stopped by the dark-skinned auror.

"Always check items for magical manipulation before picking them up, Harry, first rule of auror training." His deep voice had a stern edge in it as he unconsciously slipped into a very familiar role of his, an auror trainer. The teen flushed in embarrassment as Kingsley turned away from him. Remus caught his eyes and gave him a comforting smile, only to be replaced with a regretful frown as Harry avoided eye-contact.

"Alright, they're clear; there's a note addressed to you Harry."

Harry hesitantly walked over to the table, putting his reliable Marauders' Map in his pocket. He did not see the surprised look Remus had on his face. He put a hand to his chest and to his relief, he felt the locket's unholy weight and presence.

Indeed there was a small folded piece of paper (_Not parchment? _Harry wondered) with his name written in what seemed like a black pen. He unfolded it carefully , unsure if he wanted to even know what was expecting him.

_Dear Harry,_

_This wasn't exactly the way I wanted us to meet, but fate does have that wicked sense of humour. It has happened to me many times. Our discussion in my small humble shop was short yet enlightening. I cannot recall the last time I actually heard a wizard having logical plans for his future, or in your case, the Magical world's future. While I cannot openly support you, for reasons I regretfully have to keep secret, I still decided to help you in other ways. Don't forget about what we discussed, it is very important. All of your possessions were recovered by me and brought back to you; everything else is in the ruins of the house now. I borrowed your Invisibility Cloak for a while, hope you don't mind. I'm giving you a chance to become your own self, without any expectations. Start out anonymously and make your own name, let the world discover the real you._

_Good luck, you'll need it._

_LL_

Harry frowned in confusion. He did realize that it was that strange woman who wrote the letter and most likely rescued them, but he didn't really understand why. She just kept talking about the future of the Magical world and fate, and what was the whole 'making his own name' all about? And he _did_ mind the fact that she hasn't returned his cloak, it was more than essential at times like this.

"Harry... I think you might want to see this." He heard Remus' shaky voice behind him. The teen turned around to see the two wizards staring at what seemed to be a newspaper. Remus looked very shocked, which contrasted with Kingsley's slight frown.

The young wizard slowly walked towards them, unsure what it was that shocked the two older wizards. He prayed that everyone he knew was still alive; that it wasn't an announcement of a death of someone close to him.

He was fortunately correct, yet unfortunately wrong in the same time. Harry could've sworn his jaw hit the floor when he saw his own face on the newspaper, with Kingsley's and Remus'. When he read the main headline, he swore quietly.

Ignoring the "language, Harry," the teen quickly snatched the newspaper from Remus' hands. His eyes ran desperately upon the paper, trying to make sense of the impossible.

_"Yesterday, when the wizards and witches of the wizarding world were occupied with their usual business, quite a historic event happened at Godric's Hollow. Our Ministry's spoke man, Mr. Marcus Flint, has recounted the events that are bound to have an immense effect on our world. They may be as big as the one caused by the fair and just Muggle-Born Registration Commission, and will make our world an even better place. _

_Harry Potter, Undesirable No. 1 and the main disruptor of peace since the sinister Albus Dumbledore, has finally faced his deserved justice. Death. According to Mr. Flint, a group of foreign mercenaries, the Silver Death, has tracked Potter at his late parents house. He was accompanied by Remus Lupin, a werewolf former teacher at Hogwarts and a very known supporter of the tyrant Dumbledore as well as a member of a terrorist organization. His other companion was former Senior Auror Kingsley Shacklebot. The wizard was another terrorist and a muggle protector, clearly shown by his position as the muggle Minister's personal guard. _

_A brief duel took place at the ancient historic place. The trio was caught absolutely off guard by the tactical geniuses and their amazing skills. The three dead bodies were found and brought to the authorities, who confirmed that the Potter threat is indeed long gone._

_Marcus Flint was quite adamant that Potter's little attempt of anarchy did nothing but disturb the building calmness and peace that was slowly setting upon the wizarding world. After the many injuring years caused by many selfish members of the society, most noticeably Albus Dumbledore, the wizarding world should see this as the long-awaited era of healing and peace."_

The article went on for a few more pages, praising many members of the magical society that _"helped and contributed to the wizarding world's good" _and the usual pile of political dung. Harry kept staring at the words in silent shock, the words that announced his certain death to the whole world.

_'I hope no one is worried about me.'_ Was the first thought that came into his mind, but he squashed it bitterly, knowing that no soul will miss him. What came out of his mouth was expected, but it accented perfectly the current atmosphere in the room.

"What the bloody hell is going on?"

Remus looked at him for a moment, as if he was planning to admonish the teen for his language another time. He caught himself mid-sentence, simply chuckling and turning his eyes to the letter in his hand again.

"Well, Harry, from what I can guess, this LL character that you seemed to know plays a big role in the explanation for what is going on." The werewolf said quietly, his eyes regarding him with curiosity, asking for an explanation.

They found themselves sitting down on the chairs that were set in the middle of the humble room, facing each other.

The young wizard closed his eyes for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose in concentration.

"I met her when I went to explore the village for supplies. She duelled me at first. I almost got killed. Then she recognized me, told me she was my mom's 'Ravenclaw study buddy'" He said slowly, watching the older man's visage, hoping to find some kind of a light of recognition.

The former professor's tired features crunched in thought, he seemed to be on the brink of discovery, yet he couldn't quite reach it.

"How did she look?" He asked after a few moments.

"She had grey eyes, if that helps, she was blonde as well. I don't really know how to describe it, but it just seemed to me like she had a tough life, and she was pretty powerful." Harry explained haltingly, realizing that even if their encounter was unique, her appearance didn't have any kind of a feature that left an impression.

His fingers made their way to his temple, Remus looked extremely concentrated yet frustrated. Even though his eyes were closed shut, their restless movements were clear as a day.

"I just... I don't understand this. I can recall a person like that clearly, I know she was there, at Hogwarts with us, she was in Ravenclaw and she was extremely witty. A troublemaker too, that was the reason she got so well with us and Lily at the same time, even if we couldn't stand each other. She was the main factor that brought our little group and Lily and her friends together." A fond smile made its way to his face, only to be replaced with a look laced with frustration as he looked at both of them.

"I can remember all of this, every single detail. But when I try to think about her name or even her face, there's nothing, blank, not even a sliver of information."

"It sounds to me like a memory charm Remus, it matches all the known symptoms. It's a complex one, if it covers only some details." Kingsley spoke. His many work occasions with the obliviators helped him gain a very large extent of knowledge about memory charms and their function. Even when he thought about all the cases that he ever witnessed, he couldn't recall something as odd as this.

Remus looked angry and confused for a moment. Knowing that part of his memory was forcefully taken shook him to the very core. He turned to Harry after a few moments.

"So, what was exactly that you talked about? In the letter, she seems to be really passionate about whatever it was."

Harry looked nervous, his hand coming up and rubbing the back of his neck. The two men were not sure what was going on, but the teen avoided eye contact, preferring to look at the wall behind them.

"Uh," the teen took a deep breath, not really sure what to say, "we talked about raising a rebellion, some kind of an army to be able to fight Voldemort." He felt guilty for practically lying, but he justified it as telling the truth, just not entirely. At least he didn't directly lie.

Kingsley nodded thoughtfully. "The few remaining sane aurors were discussing a familiar idea to that, but we are too few. Even if we might have the advantage of skills and will, it is almost impossible without a stable bulk that can support us."

Harry and Remus nodded in agreement.

"That's why we discussed it, you see the mission Dumbledore gave is really important, but it's only a part of the equation. Even if we completed it, the tides of the war would've stayed the exact same, just with a long list of unnecessary casualties for our side." The young wizard spoke passionately, a thing that impressed the senior auror; the teen was clearly not naive.

"I think it would be more productive, Harry, if you shed some light on this top secret mission the professor gave you." Remus suggested.

Harry looked conflicted between the promise of not telling anyone and the logical part of his mind that argued about the stupidity of keeping it a secret. Finally, the wizard nodded and launched into a long and detailed explanation of Tom Riddle and his journey for immortality.

The reactions of the two older men ranged from surprised to downright disgusted. Harry took out the locket and let them look at it. They were hesitant at first to touch something that was tainted by dark magic, but their curiosity won in the end. After passing it around for a couple of minutes, the two agreed that indeed there was a dark presence inside of it. That was the final proof of Harry's story.

"Yes, I have to agree that finding and destroying these Horcruxes is a very critical mission. But, it should go hand in hand with the task of raising a rebelling army. One should not be ignored for the other, because we won't reach victory if we only concentrate on one of them." Kingsley said, to the agreement of the two wizards.

A silence hung for a few long moments as they contemplated the whole idea. Harry spoke after a few moments, looking at the newspaper again.

"How did she do this?" He gestured towards the article. "How was she able to make the magical world believe that we're dead? With witnesses none the less!"

"It is quite easy to answer this question Harry, considering the extent of the modification of Remus' memories." Kingsley answered him, causing the man in question to grimace. Said grimace morphed into a horrified expression as something clicked.

"Dora is going to kill me! She must be worried sick, especially with the baby coming. I have to-"

His panicked talking was cut off when Harry put his hand on his shoulder, trying to make him relax. Kingsley's words further put his worries to rest.

"Don't panic too early Remus. If we are planning to make this whole army idea work, I suggest contacting the band of aurors I talked about. Auror Tonks is one of them."

The werewolf sighed in relief and nodded, noticing that Harry was looking at him strangely.

"I see that you have reconsidered my advice Remus. What made you change your oh so noble decision to protect her?" Harry asked him, the slight frost in his tone making the older wizard flinch.

Kingsley slowly made his way to the farther corner of the room, realizing that they needed privacy. He waved his wand, making a quill and ink appear, as well as a bit more than a dozen pieces of parchment.

Remus looked at the angry teen in front of him, finding himself to be speechless even if he wanted to have this conversation in a long time. He did his best to recover.

"You did, Harry. After thinking about what you said, I realized that by 'protecting' her, I was simply hurting her and most likely endangering her even more. I'm sorry, Harry, I should've listened to you from the start. But, it's hard to do when you think that you're the one who's right." Remus said, regret filling his words as he looked at the younger wizard.

Harry's tense shoulders slumped and relaxed as he heard the last part, knowing that he himself was stubborn about his decisions in many occasions, even if he was wrong.

He looked at the last living link to his parents; one of his father's best friends and smiled faintly.

"It's alright, Remus, we all make mistakes because of our stubbornness." Ginny's face flashed in his mind but he batted it aside, trying not to think about her.

Remus smiled back at him, before suddenly looking nervous.

"While we're on that subject, I wanted to ask you something."

When he saw that he had Harry's attention, he hesitantly continued.

"The baby is going to be born really soon, and well..." he took a deep breath.

"Would you accept the offer of being his or her godfather? I know that the chances of any of us surviving are slim, but I want to make sure that someone will be able to look after him or her. I can't think of anyone who could in that role more than you Harry."

The young wizard looked surprised and shocked. It took him a few moments to reply, but when he did, his voice was low and filled with emotion.

"Of course Remus, I'd love to-"

He was unable to finish the sentence as he suddenly dropped to his knees with a pained yell. His hands rushed to his scar as Harry felt it burning and sizzling in agony.

He could hear Remus and Kingsley calling his name worriedly, but before he could reply, his vision went black and he could feel himself in a different place.


	11. Chapter 10 They Need A Hero

**A.N - We passed the 50 review milestone :) A big thank you to all of you who still follow and review this story :D**

**Chapter 10 **

An animalistic snarl echoed in the dark room, lightened by the few scattered candles that shone dimly. Voldemort stared angrily at the glowing objects in front of him, there were only two in front of him, which seemed to make him even angrier.

The mercenary, Pallium Animus, told him that Potter was aware of his deepest secret, announcing it in front of all of his followers. Voldemort regretted not killing him on the spot, the cheek of the fool! If it wasn't enough that there was already an unrest in the ranks of his servants. The Dark Lord could occasionally catch the sparks of doubt in his followers' minds, and it drove him to the edge of paranoia.

The boy was a big problem, one that didn't want to end. Not only did he stop Voldemort's reign when he was merely a toddler, but he kept being a very irritating thorn at his side ever since. Most of his followers were reduced to pitiful quivering piles of flesh, but to have them doubt his power was simply maddening.

Now that his deepest secret was out in the open, Voldemort knew he was more prone to a stab in the back than ever. Fortunately to him, the Dark Lord had an advantage. He wasn't as vulnerable as it was believed. He smirked half-heartily while looking at the two heirlooms in front of him.

Voldemort slowly sat down on the conjured arm-chair, looking thoughtfully at the glittering cup and diadem; Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's most prized possessions. When he visited the cave and the filthy shack in search of his precious Horcruxes, The Dark Lord had almost lost control of his magic as his anger blew up spectacularly. He always felt as if the old Headmaster knew his secret; it was a bothersome itch in his mind that he was never able to get rid of. Yet, not in his wildest dreams, better yet his worst nightmares, did he expect him to actually find two of them and destroy them. Then, to make matters worse, even when the fool was dead, his pathetic fanboy took up the quest to destroy his soul-vessels.

Lucius, the arrogant fool, has already suffered his wrath when he reported the destruction of the diary. Nagini was safely tucked in this dark fortress.

Yet even with those reassurances, the Dark Lord still felt unrest in his black heart. How would immortality help him against betrayal? He was no fool, Voldemort realized that many of his followers were planning to overthrow him, to have all of this power for themselves. Magical England was officially under his control, the little expected rebellions changed nothing. Now, a tense atmosphere descended upon his ranks.

Violence has always been an unwavering factor in his life. Even now when he has reached his goal, violence always found new forms to take to haunt him.

It was driving him insane. Voldemort has learned to accept and even use brutality. It gave him an indescribable thrill, nothing else has ever came close to it.

Dumbledore was dead. Potter was dead. Any powerful light wizard or witch was eight feet under, what was he supposed to do? If he was a simple mortal, he would admit that he was restless. Yet, with all the power he had, Voldemort knew that satisfying his craving would take much more.

Power was always a satisfying prize to go after, but if no one stopped him from gaining that power, how could he be satisfied with it? Voldemort couldn't figure out where these foreign feelings were coming from. When he had Dumbledore as a worthy opponent, he happily destroyed the old wizard and crushed many spirits. When the Potter boy dared to challenge him, he hunted him down, and even if it wasn't him who killed him, he was sure that Potter saw the smirking face of Lord Voldemort as he drew his last pitiful breath.

Voldemort occupied his mind with the quest of finding the most powerful wand in the world, the Elder Wand. In a streak of luck, he sensed its power when he retrieved his Horcrux. Prying it out of the cold fingers of the dead 'Greatest wizard of his age' was satisfying, he chuckled darkly.

The solution was simple and quite obvious; perhaps England has fell before his might, but many other countries remained standing proudly in front of him. It was up for him to choose the ripest one and pluck it with ease.

His cruel smirk turned into a cold frown as he felt a presence behind him. Voldemort turned around, his iris' expanding in anger and-

Harry gasped desperately as he finally tore himself out of the Dark Lord's mind, just in time.

Did he see him? Did Voldemort see that the so called pathetic Potter boy was still alive and kicking? Harry desperately hoped not, losing his only advantage at the moment would be disastrous.

He took a moment to reflect what he just witnessed. A snort of disbelief escaped him, Voldemort was _bored_? It was ridiculous to even imagine, Harry had to bat aside the image of the evil Dark Lord finding a _hobby_.

And his plans... Voldemort was going to invade other countries. Harry didn't know if he should feel relieved or horrified. It did mean that the Dark Lord wouldn't be in England, giving them more space for planning, but what about the innocent people? With a sigh his shoulders slumped, the teen knew he couldn't stop him, yet. All he could do at the moment was to raise an army as quickly as possible to be able to fight Voldemort head-on.

"Harry!" The teen looked startled at Remus and Kingsley who were looking at him respectively with worry and panic in their eyes. Harry felt guilty. The two wizards were not aware of his connection to Voldemort, and seeing him having a seizure probably wasn't a very pleasant site.

He sighed.

"Voldemort somehow found out I was hunting for the Horcruxes, he has them now. He's planning to attack a foreign country soon, he's bloody _bored_." His voice sounded tired yet emotionless at the same time, it was almost as if he didn't care anymore.

The two wizards exchanged a worried and confused look.

"Harry, what just happened? How do you know all of that?" Remus asked hesitantly.

The young wizard closed his eyes in resignation, recounting all the details about his mental connection to the Dark Lord, exhaustion clear in his voice. The ex-professor and auror looked at him with shock, even after everything he told them today, this was the most unexpected thing.

Kingsley jumped to his feet, pacing in front of them, anger clear in his eyes.

"This is unacceptable! How can we launch our plan into action with _that_? No spy could even come close to the deadly effects this can have. We can't start building an army until you learn-"

"Occlumency, yes I know. I was forced to learn it from Snape, all he did was rape and rip my mind from the inside." Harry retorted, his frustration showing through his mask of indifference.

"I don't care! You need to learn it either way!" Kingsley said sharply before turning to the door.

"I'll go and contact my friends, so we will start getting things done." Kingsley told them, without turning around.

"Harry, they are going to need someone to look up to, as a leader. It is going to be you, the Chosen One." Before the teen could protest, the auror pressed on.

"You know it's going to be like that. They need a hero, Harry. Only you can provide that icon." Kingsley finally made eye contact with the young wizard, his eyes shining in an unreadable light.

"They need a hero. You need to be ready." The auror abruptly parted without a goodbye, leaving the two men stunned.

Harry stood up, his movements jerky from suppressed anger, his fist clenched to the point of whiteness. How dare he say these things! Harry never wanted to be a hero, he was just a boy fighting for his life, not some emotionless super soldier. He should've known it was a bad idea to involve them, first his friends, now this!

The teen tensed up when he felt Remus' hand on his shoulder, turning his angry emerald green eyes and meeting the warm yet determined amber eyes of his former professor.

"You know he means well, Harry. That's exactly what you should expect to face. I'm not saying it's fair or even relatively smart, but you know that it's going to be like that." The werewolf told him firmly, but with gentleness. A flash of anger passed through the teen's eyes, but a moment later he sighed tiredly and nodded.

Remus led him to an arm-chair and sat across him. Both of them set in silence for a few long moments, Harry staring blankly at the dull grey wall while Remus waited patiently.

"But... Why me? Why does it have to be always me?" The young wizard finally spoke, turning his eyes towards Remus, desperation clear in his voice.

Remus regarded him for a while, his lips set in a thin line.

"The public always needs a poster boy." The ex-professor started.

"They always need someone they can praise or blame, someone that will appear to be greater than life, so they won't feel guilty when they drop everything on that person. After what happened with Lily and James, you've become a target for all of this." Remus spoke with combined anger and sadness, and Harry felt absolutely helpless.

"I... I just don't know if I'll be able to handle this. Not after Hermione and Ron." Harry spoke quietly, pain evident on his face.

"Harry, look at me." Remus demanded. When he saw that the teen complied he continued.

"A wise man once told me that people will always come and go in and out of your life, but those who deserve to be in it, will always find a way back. I know it's hard to see your friendship of seven years just crumble apart, but think of it this way, if it was meant to be, it'll find a way." Remus spoke slowly yet with complete certainty, and Harry got the impression he was speaking from past experience. As much as he hated to admit it, the teen knew that Remus' words made sense. The three friends had many fights before and they always ended up back together, it would be the easy way to keep worrying about it and let it affect him. The right thing, however, was to concentrate on getting alive out of this, to be able to see them another day.

"I think that I need some time to simply think about it." Harry said hesitantly, but Remus nodded in encouragement.

"Don't let it eat you from the inside Harry, if you'll need me, I'll be in the next room, getting ready for Dora killing me."

Harry smiled at the older man, it felt strained but he knew it was a matter of thought and time. He comfortably set himself in the arm-chair, turning himself towards the fireplace and lightning it. He was content to just stare at the dancing fire and get lost in his thoughts.

**Any reviews are welcome and will be replied to.**


	12. Chapter 11 You Know Why You Chose Me

**20000 words milestone, the story is getting somewhere. :D**

**Chapter 11**

He was dead and it was all her fault.

She abandoned him, him who saved her from certain death when everyone turned a blind eye.

He was a git sometimes, but he was always her friend at the end, no matter what happened.

Heroic and noble with, as she smartly labelled it, his 'saving-people-thing'.

Her best friend, who she knew so well, was gone.

Dead. Gone. Destroyed by Voldemort.

Her blank brown eyes looked helplessly around, desperate to find something that will make this cruel illusion go away.

It has been almost two days since the edition announcing Harry's death came out, and Hermione felt as empty and dead as she did when she first heard it.

Even after all the madness she went through these last few years, not even seeing Voldemort caused a chaos of the magnitude that erupted from the news of Harry's death. The disbelief, the anger, the accusations, the grief, screaming, agonized wails; it was the most terrifying thing the young woman had seen in her whole life.

Tonks was clearly the worst, going into a hysterical comatose that left everyone very worried. had to sneak some dreamless sleep potion as well as a calming draught to finally overcome her extreme distress that could've hurt the baby.

There was a very noticeable shift in the atmosphere of the house. It was a refuge to the few remaining order members who needed a safe place to stay in. As she walked around the house, she was met with many blank and hopeless looks. It was as if the fight for freedom has left every single member of the house. Hermione wasn't surprised, she felt the exact same. First Dumbledore, then Harry, Kingsley and Remus; any powerful candidate for leadership was either dead or hiding. If they didn't have a leader that could face Voldemort himself, what was the point of fighting?

The bushy-haired teen wanted to shake her head violently, to shout out that they had to keep fighting. She would've done it in a heartbeat, but there wasn't any hope.

There wasn't even any point in going to find her parents. First, she had no way of getting there undetected. The death eaters were everywhere. Second, even if she somehow made it to Australia, her parents would most likely hate her for modifying their memories, perhaps not even wanting to go back to England. Who would? The country was stuck in a war that was eating it from the inside.

"Hermione." She heard a voice behind her, turning around to find out that Ron was standing in the doorway of her small room, a weird glint in his eyes.

She groaned internally, Ron was the last person she wanted to talk to right now. Even after their best friend's death was announced, Ron didn't seem to feel even slight remorse of his decision. It was the opposite actually. He spent his time gloating about the fact that he was right and how he saved their life from going down with Harry.

Obviously, he got a very negative reaction out of it, being slapped by Hermione, his brothers looking murderous and his parents shouting at him at the top of their lungs. However, Ron refused to change his opinion, treating everyone with distaste and giving Hermione looks that made her skin crawl.

"Yes, Ron?" The young woman asked carefully, alert for any strange behaviour.

"We need to talk." The redhead said firmly, entering her room before her consent, setting himself next to her, on the bed.

She subconsciously slightly back, creating a space between them that was comfortable enough for her.

"Do we? About what?" She asked, not really sure if she even wanted to know.

"Us, Hermione. We need to talk about us." He replied as if it was clear as sky.

She frowned at him. "Us? What are you talking about Ronald? Since when is there an 'us'?"

Hermione caught a spark in his eyes that almost made her gasp in fright, but it was gone before she could process it.

"Don't play stupid with me Hermione, we both know there was a reason you left with me, instead of staying with _him_." The disgust in his voice when he said the last word filled the young witch with a rapidly expanding fiery anger.

"Yes _Ron_, there is a reason; it was because I was stupid and caught up in the moment. If I could go back in time, I would without a doubt choose Harry." She told him sharply, daring him to challenge her.

Challenge her he did. The redhead jumped to his feet, his face distorted into an ugly sneer.

"Why? To get yourself killed when Harry went on another of his stupid suicide missions? Whether you want to admit it or not, I was _right_ this time! It took him less than a day to get killed without us guarding him!" Ron snarled, spit flying out of his mouth.

She stood up as well, from anger and disgust. She jabbed a finger at his chest while her voice took a much more dangerous tone.

"And why do you think Harry... died? It's because we left him Ron! Don't even start claiming you would survive on your own when the whole wizarding world is after you, you barely survived with _us_!"

He grabbed her hand, his sudden gentleness shocking her enough not to recoil at the contact. His blue eyes met her brown eyes, filled with helplessness that looked unnatural on him after the last few days.

"Hermione please, you said that you loved me before. You know that's why you chose me. Don't you see? This is probably the only chance we'll get to be together, who knows what is coming next? I... I like you Hermione, I really do. Can't you see it?"

She looked deep into his blue eyes, searching for something. They stood like that for a few minutes, Ron holding Hermione's hand close to his chest, their eyes locked. The air became heavy with the tension. At long last, Hermione broke contact, staring at her feet in defeat.

"No Ron. I can't see it. You can claim it as much as you'd like, but you're lying to yourself. I meant every word I said that day, it will never happen between us Ronald." She told him. "I'm sorry." Hermione already turned around, her last words almost not heard by him.

"Hermione... I..." Ron whispered desperately, anguish clear on his face.

"No Ron, it's never going to work." She said without turning around, leaving the room before the redhead could say anything else.

The red haired wizard stared in shock at the doorway, where his best friend and who he hoped to be his girlfriend just stood moments ago, telling him that it wasn't possible.

Old insecurities started to rise within him, only to be suddenly overshadowed by an overwhelming rage.

_That ungrateful mudblood, she should be begging me on her knees to even pay attention to her! _A voice snarled in his mind, filled with cold anger.

A sight suddenly stopped his line of thought. Ron looked at the man standing in the little mirror across him, tall and proud. His red hair almost reached his eyes and still had a dirty tint in it. There was something in his features of his face that made the impression of a person who went through a lot, and was not glad for it. But it was his eyes that drew Ron's attention. They were a darker blue than usual, devoid of any warmness. They looked cold and almost insanely angry, making him shudder.

It was a peculiar look that made Ron stop on his tracks, he knew he saw that look before. The Ministry, Department of Mysteries, Lucius Malfoy and all the other death eaters; they had the same blank and emotionless eyes that stared at him right now.

Was that really what he has become? Did he really look and think like a murderer? What happened to him? Did he truly abandon Harry to save his own skin? His best friend? His brother in everything but blood?

_Don't act innocent dear Ron, you know you always wanted to. The Boy Who Lived overshadowed you on every way, now he is dead. You can finally prove everyone how amazing you are. _A voice whispered into his ear, sounding like a hiss, yet still having a seductive tone that made the redhead shudder.

Ron closed his eyes. Why couldn't this voice leave him alone? Why did it have so much influence on him?

_It is rude to refuse help that is offered to you Ronald. _The voice once again filled his mind, sounding disappointed.

Ron was distracted by the sound of footsteps behind him.

"Hermione?" The young man called out hopefully, turning around.

However it wasn't Hermione's chocolate brown eyes that greeted him, but fiery brown eyes that belonged to a very livid redhead witch.

"Ron." Her short greeting had a very angry tone to it, which made Ron gulp in pure fear, knowing that this was not going to be a pleasant talk.

**Reviews are very welcome and will be replied to.**


	13. Chapter 12 Fire

**Author's Note: Oh, hi there! It's been... eight months? Wow. I have tons of excuses, but I'll spare you. Let's just say that I've been busy with school, writing a novel and other stuff. I decided to come back to this story, since HP was the reason why I got into writing. This story is going to be pretty long, and unfortunately I can't promise constant updating, but I'll try my best.**

**Chapter 12**

This last year has not been sweet on Ginny Weasley. The OWLs were a stress as it is, but when death eaters invaded the supposedly safest place in magical England, it got worse. It was a terrifying night, even scarier than the night at the Ministry. That was because it was Hogwarts, their home, and they had to fight for their lives in it. What was more disorienting was the fact that Harry and Dumbledore, their two leaders, were gone at that time.

It went relatively alright, no one got hurt too bad (oh how wrong she was to be optimistic). Then suddenly, everyone were standing in the courtyard, their Headmaster's dead broken body lying in front of them, Harry sitting next to him with a blank face.

From there, everything just went so wrong. She found out about Bill; Ginny couldn't sleep for many weeks after that, having nightmares about wolves. On the day of Dumbledore's funeral, Harry broke up with her, for _her safety. _Ginny loved him dearly, but he was such a stupid noble git at times. She didn't have the heart to be angry at him though, Ginny realized that Harry wouldn't be able to live in peace until Voldemort was dead and gone forever.

It was an impulsive and childish of her to do what she did on his birthday, but Ginny knew he would be leaving soon on his quest. She wanted him to remember her. She was proven right, of course, at the wedding of Bill and Fleur, the sudden collapse of the Ministry and the invasion of death eaters forced Harry, Ron and Hermione to flee.

Ginny wasn't too worried, or at least she tried to convince herself to not. The trio always got themselves into situations like that, and they always came out of them unharmed. Perhaps it was naive of her, but the only way she could stay sane was to wait for the moment when the three friends came, dressed in shiny armour and riding white horses, declaring the defeat of the horrible Dark Lord.

It was the main reason why she ended up in detention the first day back to school, for hexing a Slytherin that came to gloat about the down fall of Harry-Bloody-Potter. Despite experiencing firsthand the brutality of the Carrows, their new professors, Ginny knew that people still saw the reason in fighting when they saw her, Neville or anyone else stand up to the Slytherins or Professors.

As much as the Carrows attempted to squash out the will of the students, the always-expanding group of rebels, known as Dumbledore's Army, kept the fight going. By that time, it wasn't just a fight for fairness, it was a fight for their freedom, in memory of Dumbledore and Harry. At first, the actual professors seemed to be opposed to the idea, but at some point they realized there wasn't much left to do other than that, simply helping out behind the scenes.

Ginny still remembered when Professor McGonagall requested her to stay after class. The redhead was sure it was again a lecture about endangering her life with their 'rebellions'. She was shocked however when the stern professor smiled sadly at her, telling her to simply be careful, and how proud the professor were of all the students who refused to bow down.

Surprisingly, the DA was operating moderately well without their leader, who always seemed to give an enormous morale boost to the whole group. They were a tight group of friends that refused to back down. Of course, they were unable to do anything major, but the group continued training and learning to fight. The main thing that kept them going, even after all the punishments and detentions, was that they knew that Harry would be proud if he saw them. Also, the desire to be ready to fight if, no, _when _Harry marched in to liberate Hogwarts and the magical world was enough to motivate them.

It all changed though. It all terribly changed when Ginny came down to breakfast, one seemingly ordinary day. At first, there didn't seem to be anything wrong. It was supposed to be an absolutely normal day that she should've been enjoying with her friends. How much she wished she could've just gone on to classes and simply endured the typical November gray day.

It was too much to have, apparently. When Ginny sat down at the Gryffindor table, the unnatural silence suddenly hit her. The redhead looked around herself to find everyone staring mutely and in different stages of shock at the papers in front of them. Her gaze finally landed on the extremely pale Neville who was sitting next to her, he handed her the newspaper that he had in his hands, almost dropping it in the process.

The moment Ginny recognized the face staring at her she felt a sickness building inside of her stomach. She didn't recognize where the picture was taken, but Harry's visage met her, crunched in annoyance because of whoever took it. For a second or two, Ginny simply stared at her ex-boyfriend, realizing that she hasn't seen his face in many months. She always saw him as handsome, it was one of his qualities that attracted her from the start. As much as she tried to move on, Ginny still held the hope of them getting back together once the war was over.

Any thought about a future full of little cute kids and love vanished the moment she read the title, colour fading away from her face. Her eyes grew to impossible measures and her mouth opened in horror. It was a joke, she decided abruptly, there was no way it was true. It must've been a way to lower their morale.

It was almost funny, Ginny thought, how desperate the stupid death eaters got. Harry was probably laughing at them right now. Yes, Harry, his eyes sparking with humour and liveliness as he laughed with his friends, not blank and expressionless as he lay down in his grave.

A thing suddenly occurred to her and she looked at the newspaper once again, Professor Remus and Kingsley were dead? Ginny hoped it was not true, she was rather fond of the two men. The major thing that bothered her however was the lack of mention of Hermione or Ron. Where were they when Harry...

_No, he's still alive_, her mind argued stubbornly.

A crystal clear spoon's tap on glass immediately silenced every single conversation in the Great Hall. Numerous pairs of eyes turned to the head table, where their _beloved _Headmaster stood up, looking at them expressionlessly. His black eyes didn't betray even the smallest flicker of emotion, as always.

"May I have your absolute attention please." Professor Snape spoke softly, but it rang in the deathly silence of the hall. The Carrows looked extremely pleased, Alecto barely held her maniacal giggles quiet, but Snape shut her up with a glance.

"I am more than certain that all of you have heard the... _exciting _news that were announced only a few hours ago, yet seem to spread like wildfire." Sniggers were heard from the Slytherin table, met only with glares from the other houses.

"I decided that announcing this right now would hopefully put an end to any already planned arguments. If that won't work, we can always use... more direct actions." The professor continued in a lazy drawl, yet something in his expression gave out the message that it was by far not a joke. Amycus' ugly sneer enforced that notion as he looked almost hungrily at the students.

"I have consulted a very trusted source, and Harry Potter's death announcement is…" The Potion Master let it hang for a few tense moments, knowing everyone was craving to hear the end of that sentence.

"...true. Mr. Potter's body has been brought in to the Ministry and was identified by the officials. Harry Potter is dead, and he is not coming back." The finality of these words seemed to freeze the Great Hall for quite a few moments.

Then, chaos erupted. It started with mocking applause and jeers from the Slytherins, followed by the angry response of the other houses, and answered by the teachers' futile attempts to restore peace. In that chaos Ginny sat with her eyes wide open staring at Snape's uncaring ones, unwilling to accept what he was saying, begging him to take it back.

A large bang overcame all the sound in the hall, making everyone flinch from the sudden violent noise. Snape stood with his wand pointed upwards, a sneer marring his face.

"Enough. Keep yourselves calm or you will be removed from this room, with the addition of many, many detentions." Snape punctuated every word with just enough venom to send shivers down every person's spine in the room.

"I realize some of you have this... _silly _notion that Potter is some kind of a boy wonder that was destined to _save the world_. I advise you to simply let it go, he is dead. Harry Potter was nothing but an arrogant cheeky boy, and in my honest opinion, the world is better off without him tainting it with his presence." The Headmaster declared to the outrage of the staff and some of the students, those who were not cheering along.

"I am going to say this only once, the mere mention of the boy's name will land you in detention and a loss of fifty points to your house. I refuse to let the school fall into madness because of the brat." Snape hissed through bared teeth, his eyes settling on the DA members, and then surprisingly moving to the Slytherin table that quieted down under his glare.

"Now that we got this issue out of the way, have your breakfast in peace. Ms. Weasley, if you please, follow me to my office, there is an urgent matter to discuss." The attention of the hall shifted to the still spellbound Ginny, who looked surprised at Snape, but after a moment she nodded.

"Neville, I trust you to talk with them, we can't stop fighting, even... if it's true." The redhead whispered to the pale teenager, her voice breaking at the end. Neville looked at her for a few moments with an unreadable expression, before nodding, a determined smile making its way to his face.

She took a last glance around the hall, getting the feeling it would be the last time she saw it in quite a time. Her friends looked at her hopelessly, clearly shaken by the announcement. Ginny tried to give them a confident smile, but it came out as a grimace.

The way to the Headmaster's office was too long for Ginny, Snape walked in a pace that she found to be extremely difficult to match. The man didn't even acknowledge her.

The silence let her a moment to reflect on the shocking news that crashed down on her world. It hasn't sunk in yet, Ginny realized, a part of her refused to believe that Harry was dead. It was impossible! It was easy to start such a rumour, and she refused to believe it until she saw the proof for it.

If anything, Ginny had the perfect flaw in their story; if they captured Harry, they would've found Hermione and Ron. The redhead felt confident that she was right. It was just a failed conspiracy of the death eaters.

"Serpent's Triumph" The Potion Master said clearly when they reached the stone gargoyle statue, missing or ignoring the snort Ginny couldn't silence it time.

When they finally entered the room, the young woman couldn't help but look around it in wonder, as she only was here once, at the end of her first year. It felt strangely lonely and cold, unlike the welcoming warm atmosphere it once had when Dumbledore was the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Dumbledore's phoenix was gone, and most of the former headmasters and headmistresses seemed to be absent from their portraits. She could see the sword Harry used against the Basilisk, it was probably useful and Snape sure didn't deserve it, Ginny decided to talk to Neville about stealing it in the near future.

"Weasley." Snape said quietly, settling himself in the seat that he would never deserve. The look in his charcoal black eyes was a mix between pity and resentment.

"Your parents have sent me a letter, they believe that you will be _extremely _upset about the recent news, therefore they asked for permission for you to stay home for a week. Against my better judgement I agreed. As your parents are such an _example_ of outstanding citizens." Ginny scowled as she could pretty much see the sarcasm dripping from his statement.

Before she could even wonder why in the world Snape was agreeing to such an arrangement, the fireplace lit up in green flames and Mr. Weasley stepped out of them. He looked extremely tired and upset, much more than he looked the last time Ginny saw him, and her heart sank a bit lower.

"Professor Snape." Her dad greeted him stiffly, obviously holding himself from saying anything else.

"Weasley. It's _Headmaster _Snape now, I'm sure you've heard." The Potion Master said with a sneer, enjoying the fact her father was holding himself from lashing out verbally at him.

"Of course. Ginny, are you ready to go?" Her dad turned to her, smiling warmly at her, clearly happy to see her despite the current situation.

"Umm, sure dad, but what about my trunk?" Ginny asked, knowing it was still in her dorm.

With a snap of Snape's fingers, the trunk appeared in front of him. Ginny nodded her thanks stiffly making the Headmaster raise an eyebrow mockingly.

"You go ahead and floo home Ginny." Her dad said lightly, but she got the hidden message, _I'm not quite done here. _

The redhead stepped into the fireplace, and with a clear "The Burrow" she was gone in a swirl of green flames.

Ginny stepped out of the now familiar fireplace of her house, carefully cleaning the soot that glued itself to her robes. The unusual silence caught her attention after a moment; Ginny couldn't hear her mom busying herself around the house, the twins' explosions and mischief, or anything that made the Weasleys the family they were. The house looked dark and abandoned, did she arrive to the wrong place?

Ginny simply decided to sit around and wait for her dad to pick her up, she found a chair to sit at while looking around. All of their possessions were gone, and so was the furniture. Did they move houses?

She didn't have to wait for long, Mr. Weasley came out of the fireplace a few moments later, his jaw set stiffly, and yet he had a confused look on his face.

"What did you say to Snape, dad?" Ginny asked him curiously, seeing that whatever it was, it wasn't a pleasant social call.

She saw his forced smile as he turned to her, trying to act as if nothing happened.

"Don't worry about it Ginny. Here, read this so we can be on our way, Molly is already worried as it is, no need to make her wait." He told her with a light tone that was as fake as that darned article.

She took the piece of folded parchment after giving him a look that clearly said that she didn't buy his excuse.

_The Weasley' new home is at The Order of the Phoenix' safe house. _

Something clicked in her mind and she understood it was the Fidelius Charm, though it seemed to her that the wording was a bit too vague for that.

"Just floo to the Order's safe house Ginny, it'll take you there right away." He softly told her, smiling gently.

She nodded before stepping into the fireplace, and with an uncertain shout of "The Order's Safe House" she found herself spinning around.

Before Ginny could look around the foreign place, she felt herself being crashed in a hug.

The redhead was barely able to gasp out a few words.

"M-mum! I need- Air!" Ginny heard a chuckle behind her, scowling at her dad's amusement.

"Molly, let her go, she does need to breathe." She gasped in relief as her windpipe finally opened. Some things never changed, no matter what happened.

Once her mum let her go, Ginny got her first good look at her parents since the start of the school year. As much as they tried to hide behind a mask of warmness, she could see the exhaustion behind it. Her mum's cheeks gained a hollow quality that wasn't there before, and the bags under her eyes spoke of sleepless nights. Her dad was a bit less conspicuous, but Ginny's searching gaze detected a change in the way he held himself. Arthur might've been a mild man to an outsider's biased opinion, but his children knew better. To see the uncertain way he stood pinched Ginny's heart.

"You've grown so much, I could've sworn you were still my height the last time I've seen you." Her mum said fondly, and Ginny couldn't even bring herself to roll her eyes. Somehow, the smothering affection felt welcome after the foreign coldness of Hogwarts.

"We were really worried about you, with all the trouble you've been getting into lately." Her dad told her with attempted sternness, though it wasn't wholehearted. That worried her.

"I'd think that you would be used to it after Fred and George." Ginny replied in a teasing tone, but her brain was filled with anxiety.

Her parents chuckled uncomfortably. There was something wrong. Ginny felt as if she was in some stuck up party where the truth has died and everyone circled around it.

"Where are the three actual trouble-makers? Are they still running around like some heroes?" The redhead asked flippantly, trying to hide her nervousness.

Her parents exchanged a look.

"Ron and Hermione are upstairs." Her dad answered her quietly, not inclined to elaborate.

"And Harry?" She heard herself ask, though her mind was racing elsewhere.

A silence stretched for many moments, none of the three was willing to break it. It was the sob from her mom that answered Ginny, it was more than enough for her to see the tears in her mom's eyes to have the answer.

Seized by a sudden desire, Ginny turned around and rushed towards the stairs, ignoring her parents call for her. It was her first time in the unfamiliar house, but she didn't care. Hurt clouded her thoughts, the only thing she wanted to do now was to scream.

A very familiar brunette almost slammed into Ginny, but caught herself in the last second.

"Ginny? What are you doing here?" Hermione asked in surprise. The redhead considered for a moment to take her frustration out at her, but seeing the red tint of her eyes, she reconsidered.

"Where's Ron?" She demanded, unable to keep her tone civilized.

Caught off guard, the only thing Hermione could do was to point mutely behind her down the hallway.

He better be ready.


	14. Chapter 13 Monkey Business

**Chapter 13**

"Animus? Are you alright?" The question broke the man out of his hazy thoughts. He turned around to face a young woman, her features familiar as that of a stranger. Why was it that he couldn't shake off the feeling of dread? It was a strange crawling on his skin, irritating him but not disclosing the source. The man realized that she was still waiting for an answer.

"Yes, uh... yes, I'm fine." He said with clear hesitation, grateful when the woman did not pursue the issue.

Had he been drinking lately? The young man couldn't recall a recent time in which he did, but that did nothing to comfort him, quite the opposite.

"Ok. That you-know-who guy seems like a creep; who in the world would even go for such a name? I swear, I don't understand these British people." His three companions broke into chatter, laughing about some subject or another. He couldn't bring himself to really care. Who were these people? The man knew that they were acquainted, but if that was the case, why couldn't he recall anything but fuzzy images?

Silver Death.

That rang a bell. They were a group of mercenaries; outcasts and underachievers that were blessed with only magic to make a living, and what easier living was there other than mindless violence? They decided to head over to England because of the brewing war. A bleeding state's scent attracted scum from all around the world.

The mercs usually took simple and little paying jobs like muggle-born hunting and muggle estate clearing. It was enough for them to survive, but just barely. And then, he had the great idea of going after the most delicious target: Undesirable Number 1. Easy 100,000 galleons to make, they claimed.

Despite not growing up in England, all seven of them have heard of Harry Potter. They often joked about the irony that his story presented; a baby hero that grew up to be the scapegoat of hatred. Some of them even thought that they would be doing a favour to him by killing the boy.

It didn't take them long to find out that the affair wasn't going to be as simple as they first thought. The boy and his two friends proved to be paranoid, to an extreme that the group hasn't quite seen yet. After two weeks of dead ends and trails gone cold, they finally had a breakthrough. For a reason unknown, the boy abruptly left his friends, this time not even being the slightest careful about leaving traces of magic. It was more than simple to pick up on his path after that.

Never had he expected to lose three of his men in his moment of stupidity. Up until now, they had a perfect record. The man could remember the fear he felt when one of his group members got his arm broken during a mission. They looked up to him and that made them his responsibility. And now three of them were dead, all thanks to him. Yet he couldn't even recall their names.

"Animus?" This time, there was an impatient note in the question.

The wizard shook himself from his thoughts. His three companions were looking at him with worry. He must've zoned out for quite a while.

"Sorry, I don't know what's up with me today. I must be tired after talking to that creep. I should just get some sleep." Trying to brush it off, he faked a chuckle. It must've worked, since they looked a bit more relaxed.

"Yeah, you were the one doing the talking, can't say I envy you. We'll see you tomorrow? I'm sure your wife is worried already."

He had a wife?!

A squeal shook Harry from his thoughts, causing him to move from the position he was stuck in for the past few hours. Hissing from the numbness of his neck, Harry slowly got up from the armchair he was sitting on, curious to see the source of the sound. It must've been Kingley's friends, he reasoned, which filled him with excited dread.

Harry did not expect the sheer amount of people in the tiny hallway; there were at least half a dozen of adults cramped in the little space. However, their attention was focused on a particular couple of people.

Remus was being hugged by a woman that Harry recognized as Tonks after a few beats, caught off guard by her peculiar hair. Unlike the typical pink hue that the auror typically used, the shortened hair was constantly shifting between all the colours of the rainbow. It was then when Harry realized that Tonks was crying quietly, and the reason for it showed right at that moment when she started slamming her fists against Remus' chest.

"I thought that you died, Remus! How could you do that to me? Think of what could've happened to the baby." She sobbed into his chest. Remus' muttered apologies and words of comfort were cut off when his mind registered the last part of her sentence. Gently grabbing her shoulders, the werewolf looked into his wife's eyes with desperate concern. "Is the baby alright?" He asked quietly, protectiveness shined in his eyes as he looked at Tonks, lightening in relief when she softly nodded.

Standing at the doorway, Harry had the chance to observe the scene objectively. The violent argument that they had not too long ago flashed before his eyes, causing Harry to consider if he made the right choice by pressing on Remus to stay. Seeing the love the two of them shared answered that question easily, leaving him to silently contemplate Remus' request. Was he up to the task?

He didn't want to ruin their moment, therefore Harry tried to stealthily go back to the other room. His plan didn't work out too well as he slammed his foot against the door frame with a quiet curse. The whole room's attention shifted to him before he felt two arms circling around him in a mighty hug.

Tonks' relieved mutterings didn't reach his consciousness, as Harry was too preoccupied feeling the scrutiny of the rest of the adults in the hallway. He could already feel the judgmental opinions forming as they took on his scrubby and shabby look. It was clear that if he wanted their support he'd need to work more than just the "I'm the Chosen One" reasoning.

At long last, the distressed auror let him go, allowing everyone to properly enter the humble room. The adults conjured themselves simple wooden chairs while Harry turned the armchair around to face the circle that they have formed, just another disadvantage on his side.

Kingsley was the first one to break the silence that has been caused by the stiff awkwardness that hung in the air.

"Harry, you of course know Tonks, but I'd like you to meet Aurors Savage, Proudfoot and Williamson. You might've heard of them."

Indeed he has, even though he never got the chance to actually meet with them before. Didn't they work for the ministry? Last time Harry checked, he was still the most wanted man in the magical world.

Seeing the teenager's cautious look, Remus hurried to explain from his own seat, which he was sharing with Tonks.

"They sought us out a few days ago, since they heard about the Order of the Phoenix, or at least what is left of it." The werewolf said with some degree of bitterness.

Savage, a dark haired mature man with hazel eyes picked up from Remus, "We aren't blind enough not to see that the ministry has been infiltrated on all fronts. With Scrimgeour, Dumbledore and his little club gone, there is no one to be able to rally an actual counter attack against the Dark Lord."

"And you want me to be that replacement." Harry concluded quietly, unsure of how to feel about the whole situation.

Another uncomfortable silence descended on the room, none of the adults willing to affirm or deny the statement. It wasn't what the teenager expected, he had hoped to be able to raise an army to fight against Voldemort, but who would follow such a young and naive wizard into a suicidal fight? The only way they would actually listen to him could only happen if he agreed to act like a poster boy for these adults. How come it always came down to that?

"Why don't you tell them about the Horcruxes, Harry?" Kingsley broke the silence, looking at him hopefully. They were really grasping at straws here, weren't they?

Reluctantly, the young wizard repeated his explanation of their hunt of the Horcruxes as ordered by Dumbledore. Expressions of disbelieve morphed into outrage by the time he was done.

"The Headmaster knew about them for more than a decade and he did nothing to inform us? His return could've been prevented if a professional hit team was assigned with finding them." Proudfoot, a short blond wizard with dark eyes declared with clear indignation. Harry tried to protest that Dumbledore only had suspicions about the soul containers, but it fell to deaf ears.

Williamson, a regal brunette witch with light blue eyes replied to him with a narrow look. "It doesn't really matter if it was just a suspicion or not, the possibility of the return of a terrorist is a national security matter. Dumbledore's inability to inform us has already cost England thousands of lives, and you are at fault as well." At Harry's surprised look, she continued, "Yes Potter, you. He has told you about the Horcruxes almost a year ago, and all you managed to do was to search for them with your pitiful group of friends."

"At least we found one of them!" Harry exclaimed in anger, taking out the locket out of his pocket and shaking it in front of him.

The atmosphere in the room completely changed at his declaration. The three aurors jumped out of their seats while taking out their wands, pointing them at Harry. Remus and Tonks jumped to Harry's side with their own wands pointed at the trio of the aurors, while Kingsley stepped between the two groups. The teenager had no idea how to react, not expecting such a violent reaction from the aurors.

"Are you insane? You've been keeping it on your body without destroying it? I thought you had at least some kind of sense Potter." Savage hissed at him, his eyes flashing as the tip of his wand glowed softly.

Kingsley turned towards the aurors, "He didn't have any way to destroy it yet, Savage. Put your wands down" He replied, trying to keep his voice steady.

"Which further proves his incompetence. You want us to follow a boy that is most likely being controlled by the Dark Lord right now, Kingsley, I think we have the right to be cautious." The auror answered him angrily.

Instead of being intimidated by the sight of three wands pointed at him, Harry felt his own wave of anger rushing in; he's had enough of this useless talking, which mostly revolved around blaming him and others. Stepping in front of the three aurors, he met their eyes with an objective of his own.

"Is this really just going to be a discussion about my mental capability? I've had that specific attribute doubted and torn apart over and over by pretty much everyone these past few years. And yet, here I am! Standing before you, perfectly capable of defending myself. All you people seem to remember are my weaknesses, instead of actually seeing what I've been doing in the last six years. Something that none of you, as high and mighty as you are, were able to accomplish. I actually contributed in the war against Voldemort." Any retort that they might've had was cut off by their flinch of the name, further fuelling Harry's anger.

"Look at you! You can't even bear to hear his name without having to change your pants. How dare you judge me when you haven't fought a single Death Eater throughout this whole war?" If he expected an answer, he sure didn't get one.

"All you've done so far was to sit on your comfortable chairs all day, complaining about Dumbledore or his _little club _being a disruptive influence on the magical world, while the actual criminals nod their heads along right in front of YOU!" The volume of his voice rose up another notch, Harry could feel a vein pumping angrily along his neck. The trio didn't offer even the slightest resistance to his verbal tirade.

"And now that your comfort and warmth are gone, you have the nerve to come to me, criticising a teenager's and a dead man's actions to feel better about yourselves. All you can offer is to turn me into a mindless poster boy to rally an inexistent crowd of rebels in a political fight against Voldemort. You... you filthy hypocrites." Harry felt the hot anger draining from him, leaving a tired cold shell behind. He collapsed on the armchair, unable to even look at the three aurors who by now dropped their wands back. Where did this frustration come from?

After a few minutes, the teenager realized that they were still standing in stunned silence, unable to move anywhere.

"Get out. Come back when you actually want to win this war, and I might not slam the door on your faces. We need the best, but I refuse to work with useless bureaucrats." He told them tiredly before turning away.

Behind him, Harry could hear the shuffling of feet and the shutting of the front door. Lupin and the other two didn't bother to say anything, still too shocked to offer anything intelligent.

Perhaps it was his imagination, but it felt as if the room became gloomier than it was before.


	15. Chapter 14 A Moody Professor

**Chapter 14**

"So... now what?" It was Tonks who finally posed the question, after a good ten minutes of silence.

Neither Remus nor Kingsley answered her, so Harry supposed it was sent towards to him. Turning around, he faced the three of them who were sitting rather awkwardly on the couch.

"First, we need to get out of here, we don't know for sure if they were spies or not. Then, I need to start training." Harry said in a matter-of-fact tone, not letting Kingsley argue with him about his friends' allegiances. It didn't take him much time to gather everything he owned; it came down to his wand, the map and the clothes that he had on himself. The teenager sniffed his sleeve before recoiling with a grimace. That was something he needed to work on as soon as possible.

When he turned around, the adults in the room were still sitting on the couch looking at him. He sighed in impatience, they couldn't be getting _that _old already.

"What are we waiting for? Merlin isn't going to visit today." Harry demanded with a hint of tiredness, he has technically only been awake for a couple of hours but he already felt drained. It was probably because of the sudden big amount of interaction with someone other than Herm- No.

He refused to think about them, it was not the time. Every second he'd spend in depression (which of course would happen), will cost more unnecessary death and destruction. Harry has let himself go for too long, he needed to get back into the game that he was never invited into.

"Where are we going to go?" Remus asked with clear hesitation.

Harry had a while to think about it while the adults tussled and ran around. The first place he thought of was the Shrieking Shack, but it was guarded by Death Eaters and Dementors. It was a possibility for later. If they could slip from the shack into the school, it would give them a chance to liberate it. Too early.

Then, the teenager considered any places that his family might've owned before the war. Their house at Godric's Hollow has been destroyed thanks to him, and he was unaware of any other houses they might've had. It might be worth asking Remus about it now, but there must be still people lurking around these places if they existed. He needed the news of his death to spread before attempting that. Which was why Harry decided that he wasn't going to reveal his survival quite yet, an attack from the grave was much more unexpected than the looming threat of a rebellion.

It wasn't a light decision. He felt the desire to rush in and announce his existence to the world pulsing in his veins, but it was suppressed. Perhaps some people will lose hope after hearing about the _Chosen One's _death, but he was planning to bring that hope back and include a dessert as well. For his plan to work, they needed a place that has been stricken from all the records, a place that no one would even want to come remotely close to.

They needed a dead man's home.

"Moody's house. It'll allow us to stay under the radar for at least a week." Harry replied. They looked at him with gaping faces. He wasn't sure what surprised them more: his answer or the muggle expression. After a few moments of silence, the young wizard started feeling self-conscious, it was a good plan!

It was Kingsley who broke the thousandth silence.

"I would expect his house to be monitored. Alastor was one of the few who could've actually challenged the new ministry."

"Which is why it's fitting that we'll start there," Harry insisted, "it's been months already. They don't have a reason to believe that someone will even visit the place, especially with the three of us 'dead'."

It _was_ a good plan.

Seeing that the three of them still looked doubtful, Harry sighed in frustration. He started seeing why he felt reluctant to suggest any sort of plans before. They were always shot down before given the chance. Perhaps his instincts weren't always right, or rather time-accurate, but it didn't mean that it gave them the right to simply dismiss him. After all, they had the chance to win this war conventionally years ago, but now that there were less than five of them here, creativity had to come into play.

"Look, if you are having second thoughts about this, it's fine. You weren't exactly given the chance to decide if you're ready to wage war against Voldemort, and it's unfair for me to demand it." War _was _unfair. "It's alright, I understand. I'll find the house by myself. Just... keep safe, alright? This war already claimed too many good people." Harry gave them a sad smile before turning towards the hallway.

They couldn't see him biting his lip in anxiety, or the moving of his lips in a prayer, just like the relieved yet guilty smile that lit his face when they rushed after him in a matter of a few heart beats.

**XXXXXXX**

"Longbottom! Stay after class." The professor announced as the students waited for the end of the class.

Neville's face was a passive mask of politeness, but inside he groaned in dismay. His knees were still slightly shaking from DADA or rather simply the Dark Arts. _Professor _Carrow asked (demanded) him to stay as well after class, it almost seemed as if they were the same person.

The teenager smiled weakly at his attempt of a joke. How else was he going survive the two sibling terrors? It was bad enough with Ginny gone, some of Dumbledore's Army already started doubting the efficiency of their group, especially with the news about Harry. He frowned in thought as the remaining last students filed out of the room. No matter how many times he reviewed the story in the newspapers, something didn't sit right with him. Too many questions were left unanswered, and while it was enough for the others to proclaim Harry dead, Neville was unable to.

What happened to Ron and Hermione? Neville could count on one hand the amount of times that the green-eyed teenager went on an adventure without them.

Why would Harry go to his parents' house? It was an obvious place for an ambush, Harry was smart enough to realize that.

If Harry was really dead, Voldemort didn't have a reason to stay in hiding any more, but he hasn't officially announced his victory yet.

Harry was out there, either recovering or already planning his response, Neville was absolutely sure of that. And it was his duty to keep the morale here in Hogwarts, no matter what.

Any further thoughts were erased from his with Alecto's violent grab of his hair. She must've been incredibly angry, since it was only at these moments that she resorted to muggle methods.

"Do you want to die boy?" The witch demanded from him with venom, spittle flying all over his face. Ugh.

"And not see your pretty face every day? I don't think I'd be able to face that professor." Neville said with a wince, trying to ignore the spikes of pain coming from his head.

She slapped him hard while screaming at him. "Was the cut not enough? Are you ever going to learn respect you little brat?"

The gash on his cheek pulsed in a rapid beat, as if knowing it was mentioned, Neville knew that he was going to wear it with pride. It was one of his better moments, daring to question the possibility of his esteemed teacher's blood containing some muggle roots. Seeing the mad glint in her eyes, the teenager instinctively reached out towards his wand. She didn't seem to notice his movement, preferring to continue her angry tirade.

"When are you going to give up this lost cause? Potter is dead! Dumbledore is dead! Your little pathetic illusion of a muggle-loving world is long gone. You're the last loose knot." Alecto said with an odd throaty chuckle. Neville felt his stomach drop in a flicker of fear. He has pushed her too far.

He had just enough time to draw his wand and cast a shield around himself before it exploded in a colourful blast. The shockwave threw him across the classroom, crashing him through a rickety table with a mighty crash. Pain gripped him, but Neville refused to be stunned by it, creating a makeshift wall with the broken wood to block the witch's spells for a few heart beats. He needed some time to recover.

It was only at the moment in which he planned to come out and manifest his own counter attack that a sudden voice pierced through the spells' barrage.

"Alecto, that's enough." After seven years at Hogwarts, Neville developed a sixth sense when it came to his teachers' voices, but for once he hoped that he was wrong.

"What's wrong Snape? I am teaching the boy some discipline that he clearly lacks. Just because _some _of us don't have enough guts to do it doesn't mean that I won't." The madwoman answered him in a mocking snarl, sinking the boy's hopeful wishing. As if it wasn't enough for her to be attacking him, Snape had to get into the mess as well.

"I truly doubt that killing one of our students will prove to be appealing to the magical world," he almost sounded sincere there, "no matter how useless that student is." Well.

When Alecto didn't offer any other resistance, Snape called out towards him. "Longbottom, come with me."

For the slightest moment, Neville considered refusing the order, just to see if he could provoke Snape's ire, but it was pointless in the end of the day. With courage in his step that he didn't truly possess, the teenager made his way towards Snape. The greasy git wasn't any better than the batty woman, but right now, only one of them was angry enough to want to kill him. Alecto's glare slammed into Neville with the full extent of her hatred, causing him to unconsciously flinch towards Snape before catching himself.

Silence reigned as the two of them walked through the many corridors of the school. Any student that saw them gave Neville a pitying or sometimes frightened look, but no one stepped in.

That's why they needed Harry. He was the only one crazy enough to pull out the necessary stunts, Neville could only hope to imitate a part of that insanity.

It took him a few minutes to realize that they weren't actually walking in the direction of Snape's office, or even the Discipline chambers (cleverly nicknamed as the Snake Shindig), but rather to an abandoned hallway near the Gryffindor common room.

Neville looked questioningly at the professor who returned it with unsettling scrutiny.

"Directness isn't going to get you far Longbottom, much less the offensive kind. But, I suppose that is why you have chosen _Gryffindor_. Do not blame others when it's your own stupidity that gets you killed." Snape delivered in an uncaring manner, the typical bite missing from his voice.

In response, Neville looked mutely at the professor with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Snape seemed to be satisfied with that, turning around with a dramatic flare of his robes, departing with a final remark.

"I trust that you will share the horrors of my wrath with your classmates. I cannot promise to be as forgiving with the next cheeky brat."


	16. Chapter 15 Electrifying Results

**Chapter 15**

"Clear your mind Harry, that's the only way for us to start." Kingsley said with the remaining of his patience.

"I swear Kingsley, if you say that another time, I will start shooting spells." Harry warned him, his own patience even shorter than the older man's.

They were sitting in the living room of Moody's house. Just like Harry expected, there weren't any wizards in the proximity of the house. The protective wards and spells have been forcefully torn away, leaving a silent and moody husk behind. They had no way of knowing if anyone came to check it, therefore it was decided that their stay would be as short as possible.

The Lupin couple has went away in hopes of finding a more permanent lodging for the four of them. Harry and Kingsley decided to take the opportunity to start the teen's occlumency lessons. The young wizard he needed to control the mental link between himself and Voldemort.

Despite the fact that they were sitting in a rather warm room and it was Kingsley instructing him, Harry still felt as if he was back in the office of the greasy git. It didn't help that the auror opened their session with asking Harry to clear his mind, assuming that the professor was able to at least teach him that.

Of course, all Harry could remember from Snape's lessons was shouting and the mental pain that he suffered through later at night. He came to dub them as the 'brain-gutter' sessions, since he felt as if his head had been rearranged on the inside after spending time with Snape.

Kingsley led him through some basic breathing exercises that slowly but surely calmed Harry's nerves. The idea of someone poking in his head has never been attractive even before he started, but knowing that it could be Voldemort forced the teenager to push his apprehension back.

Under the careful guidance of the auror, the young wizard carefully reached inside of him to find his mind. The whole experience seemed alien to him, as if humans were not supposed to be able to do that.

"The first time is going to feel very wrong, but it gets better the more you dedicate yourself into it, like flying." Kingsley tried to assure him with what he hoped a relevant analysis.

But he felt natural on a broom from the very start. Harry wanted to argue but he knew that it wasn't going to help him in any way. It was better to just relax and let it happen, that's how most of the magic worked. With that thought in mind, Harry's posture slackened considerably as he sank into his chair without a sound. It washed over him, with an intensity that he was unaware of at first.

Opening his eyes, he realised that they were tightly shut. It was the oddest feeling; Harry could feel his eye-lids covering his eyes, but at the same time he could see clearly. He was so caught onto the weird feeling that his new surroundings didn't register until a few minutes later.

He was standing in his old cupboard.

Normally, Harry would've panicked, but he supposedly died a few hours ago. Reappearing in his old 'room' wasn't much of a stretch on the impossibility spectrum anymore.

His wand was gone as well. That fact worried the teenager more, but he knew that it had to be tied to his relocation.

Taking a deep breath, Harry opened the door of the cupboard and stepped outside. Instead of the dreadful house of his relatives, he was hit by a much stranger sight, or rather lack of it.

The ground was black, the sky was black; everything around him was just darkness. Harry turned around to see that his cupboard was quite literally torn from the interior of its house, standing, or floating in the absolute blackness. Shaking his head, Harry caught sight of something on the other side of the cupboard. Peeking around it, he could see a dully coloured castle around a kilometre away, standing proudly in the portrait of darkness around it.

It was illuminated by an alien green glow, to which source Harry found by turning towards it. On one of the walls of his cupboard, there was a blob of... something. An abomination was the first word that came into Harry's mind; it felt wrong, it didn't belong. The odd blob was stuck on the wall, being held by forces that were incomprehensible for Harry. Its texture was like melted wax, not being able to take a permanent form.

That was when he found himself on the floor of the living room, a very strong urge to vomit gripping him from the inside. Kingsley's hand was on his shoulder in support, but he didn't help the teen to get up, not that Harry really wanted to. His vision swam in a nauseating movement from the sudden transition. He had to stay on his knees for a while, his eyes tightly shut against the turbulences in his stomach, but it finally settled down.

"What in the world was that?" Harry gasped out, turning towards the completely calm auror.

"You voluntarily accessed your inner-mind for the first time, it's never too comfortable, but it does get better. You must've seen your memory bank, in whatever form it has taken." Kingsley explained slowly, letting the new information sink in. At Harry's confused expression, he continued. "That's where all of your memories are stored, just because normally you can't remember everything doesn't mean that your mind doesn't. The next step is to build defences around it. If your assaulter is able to reach the bank, they can use anything that you have inside of it against you."

"Is that why there was a castle there as well?" The young wizard asked, remembering the odd sight.

Kingsley responded with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, these were the outer defences of my own mind, though there is much more waiting on the inside."

"It seemed so far away from my own mind."

"Distance is very different on the mental plane. The ratio grows the farther you are from your target. A skilled Legilimens is able to travel that distance in mere seconds, but you won't learn that until later on. It is centered around the strength of a person's will."

"Wouldn't a muggle be technically able to learn occlumency then?"

"Yes, but only occlumency. Legilimency requires magical energy to transport the consciousness of the caster, which is why it is such a dangerous art. A careless wizard can be trapped inside of his target's mind, unable to return to his own body, leaving an unresponsive husk behind"

"Wouldn't occlumency help against dementors then?"

"What?"

Harry didn't know where that thought came from. His emersion into the new magic caused him to blurt out before thinking. Feeling his cheeks warm up, the teenager rushed to explain.

"Well, aren't dementors supposed to suck out your soul? So wouldn't the soul be a person's consciousness, in theory? It really sounds like the two do the same, or at least leave the person in the same state... and... yeah." He finished lamely, unable to express this burst of hypothesis properly.

Instead of mocking him like Harry expected, the auror considered his words before answering.

"Occlumency has many uses, it doesn't limit itself to the defence of mind. I wouldn't be surprised if it could prevent the dementor kiss, but I do strongly recommend against experimenting with that." He said with a pointed look.

Harry nodded absently, already closing his eyes to try out the new territory again, but Kingsley interrupted before he could even start.

"Don't overwork yourself Harry. Occlumency is going to take a lot out of you at first. Get some rest while I check if I can restart the defensive wards of the house."

The teenager made a face, but nodded reluctantly, slumping into his chair as the auror left the room. He waited for a few moments before chancing a look behind him, once he was satisfied, his eyes shut tight on their own accord.

**XXXXXXX**

Her strides were sure and firm, thumping faintly against the metal floor. People in uniforms passed by her, but no one attempted to start a conversation seeing the purposeful look in her eyes. Everyone knew not to get into the way of Lieutenant Durand when she was on a mission, unless one desired to face painful death. Her green eyes didn't even bother to acknowledge their attention, not deeming it worthy.

She reached an impressive door, nodding towards the suited man sitting behind a desk near it. He smiled at her warmly.

"The Commander is already waiting for you, Rachel, go right ahead." He said before clicking on his desk, activating a buzzer that signalled her entry. She shot him an annoyed look, but he ignored her, knowing perfectly well that she didn't like the use of her first name.

"Thank you, _George_." It was a minor victory, but the Lieutenant pretended not to notice the smirk on his face as she opened the door.

"Durand."

"Sir."

She gave off a sharp salute despite the fact that he wasn't facing in her direction. The tall man was in front of a huge bookcase that decorated the whole wall of the room. His fingers fluttered absently on the many spines, but Durand knew better than to believe the façade. She was in his office when he drew a handgun from the bookcase out on a suspicious visitor, even when it turned out to be an extremely lost French diplomat.

"I hope that you are here to deliver some good news for a change. We are currently not being held in a favourable light with our inability to act." Frustration was clearly audible in his voice, and the Lieutenant could relate. Being assigned to deal with a secret world that was in current crisis wasn't an easy task, especially when facing pressure from their frantic superiors. The task force that has been composed to infiltrate into the _magical _world and terminate the threat has been facing disappointments on all fronts; despite being on the case for a couple of months, they've yet to find a way into one of the magical centres in England.

She didn't think that her report could completely count as good news, but Durand knew better than let unprofessional hesitation to get in the way.

"We've finally captured one of these... Death Eaters. He tried his best to escape using his teleportation abilities, but the tracker that we placed on him seemed to have worked in a way that we didn't expect." That caught his attention, the Commander turned away from his bookcase to face her.

The tracker was a standard procedure when trying to locate stubborn criminals. After being so close to capturing a wizard just to have him disappearing in thin air, someone in the team suggested trying to exhaust their target by tracking them. They expected a long chase across the whole country, but something peculiar happened when the wizard attempted to teleport. The tracker reacted violently on his body, it stopped transmitting its signal yet at the same time it changed the repeating outcome. Instead of disappearing, the Death Eater collapsed after a few moments, and later examinations showed that he was struck by an almost lethal amount of electrical discharge.

The Commander sat down by then, contemplating the new information with a frown.

"Was it an isolated incident?"

"No sir, we kept the tracker on him during the interrogation. He tried to teleport many times, each time resulting in another paralysing strike. It took longer than we expected, but he finally gave up on using his magic." Before he could open his mouth, she quickly added, "I've assigned our best scientists to see if they could replicate that reaction in some type of a weapon."

The Commander nodded in satisfaction, clearly happy with her own improvised orders.

There came a hesitation that he detected.

"And what did you find out from him?" He prompted, looking at her in slight suspicion.

"I'll forward you the whole report, he couldn't stop talking once we made him start. Nevertheless, we are certain that we can now manage to enter their world. We simply need to work out the details of disguise and precautions." The Lieutenant reported in her official voice, but he could see that she was trying to delay something.

"That's great news. It's our first break since starting this mission. And yet, there's something else, isn't there Lieutenant?"

She sighed, knowing that he was on to her. There was no point in trying to hide it anymore.

"Do you remember Harry Potter?" Durand finally asked, trying not to look at the Commander but failing thanks to her sense of duty.

"The hero kid that supposedly defeated the terrorist head while he was only one year old? Yes, I remember our esteemed minister talking about him. Apparently, he's on the run right now, though I hardly see how he could change from a hero to the most wanted man in the magical world. As you recall, we've sent many groups to attempt to find him, he must be in a big need of allies right now. What about him?"

"According to our prisoner, he's dead." She chose the deadpan approach, not allowing her voice to gain any emotional quality to it.

He sat heavily on the chair behind his desk with a sigh, rubbing his forehead slowly.

"How?"

"Bounty hunters. It was apparently on the headlines of their newspapers a few days ago. There hasn't been any protest against the claim yet."

Durand couldn't grasp how a society that supposedly revered this boy before were now happy to celebrate his death.

The Commander finally spoke, his voice heavy with strain of responsibility.

"Then we are to assume that we will not be able to find any allies in that world. Trust no one and do not hesitate to dispose of anyone while there; for all purposes, we are entering enemy territory the moment we set foot on magical soil."

"Yes sir."


	17. Chapter 16 Lord Raven

**Chapter 16**

"What's that?"

"This? Oh, Moody told me about it once, let me remember. I believe that it is a Valravn, a mythical creature from Danish folklore. These Valravn were ravens that devoured the bodies of the dead on ancient battlefields to gain human intelligence and perform malicious acts. They were known to fly only at night on some journey for redemption and specifically hunt for the blood of innocent children. If they were ever able to consume a child's body, they became knights. Simply said, a typical boogeyman."

"Huh."

Harry didn't doubt that, the raven visage stared at him with a hungry snarl forever crafted on its face. Malice almost dripped from its mouth in fat drops of venom. Its lifeless eyes still retained the light of a merciless predator. Despite all that, Harry was taken by an impulse as he took off the decoration off the wall. For a moment, the teenager expected the raven to bite his hand, but he dismissed that silly notion.

The Valravn sure seemed extremely aggressive and the background story of it that he was told by Remus rang something familiar in Harry's mind.

He's been thinking repeatedly about getting some sort of disguise this whole week that they have spent in Moody's house. No death eaters showed up, so they decided that it was safe enough as a temporary safe place. His occlumency skills have matured enough for them to start considering their future actions. Returning as Harry Potter was tempting, but he felt that the drawbacks were too much to risk. Perhaps people needed a new hero, someone who could do the fighting that they couldn't trust a teenager to do.

Adapting a new name, a new personality and face seemed to be his best chance to inspire others to follow him into the fight against the Dark Lord. Entering a new figure into the power game that ruled over the magical world was essential right now. Now that he was visually aware of his connection to Voldemort, Harry has gotten little snippets of the wizard's thoughts and plans. The teenager guessed that Voldemort was a bit more careless now that his main challenger was dead; he wasn't even in England, chasing something abroad.

It was the perfect time to strike, to show the world that there was still hope for a better life. But, not with that attitude. No one liked to have a dreamer as their leader, they needed a realist. Whether he liked it or not, the idea of hard revenge was much more attractive than an optimistic hope for peace these days.

With that thought in mind, Harry walked with the raven's head in his hands, luckily finding the three of the house's occupants in the study, engaged in conversation. Remus and Tonks finally found an abandoned apartment building in an older part of London that was in an alright condition. They've already started setting up wards that kept the building from being swarmed by homeless muggles. The three were talking about the soonest occasion they could move in without attracting any attention and the need to conjure furniture for the people who will soon be moving in.

Harry waited patiently for them to acknowledge his presence, leaning against the wall with the wall decoration still in his hands. They looked at him expectantly and he took his cue to start talking. He talked for many minutes, not letting any of the three to interrupt him before he felt that he said everything that he wanted. He talked about the mask, his plans, his concerns, his expectations of them. At some point they gave up, letting him talk despite having comments or questions.

Once he was done, Harry shrugged his shoulders as to say: _Go at it. _

Remus was the first one to voice his concerns, "Harry, I was under the impression that you were planning to return as yourself."

"There is no point Remus. Currently, the world sees Harry Potter as their failed hero; they see him as a criminal that went renegade when things didn't go his way. At some point, I won't have a choice but to reveal my identity. When that moment comes, I will not hesitate." Harry spoke with quiet passion.

Tonks was the next in line, "you can't expect people to trust us if we're all clad in disguises. They will probably end up thinking that we are just Death Eaters as well."

Harry considered that already.

"You and Remus will be the only ones who will reveal your true faces. You will tell them that Harry Potter and Kingsley Shacklebot gave their lives away to save a married man so that he could return to his pregnant wife."

Kingsley brought the dessert, "who are these _they _that you keep talking about? You can't seriously expect people to join us simply because we fight against Voldemort."

That was the one thing that Harry has yet to find a concrete solution but he offered his foundations nevertheless, "muggleborns. They are being treated as criminals for simply existing. Most of them will be ready to fight the oppressive government. I'm not quite sure yet from where we'll be able to recruit them though."

They considered this for a few moments, their faces crunched in concentration, weighting the pros and cons.

"What about Azkaban? I heard that they are hoarding muggleborns there at the slightest provocation, and sometimes even without that." The pregnant witch suggested hesitantly.

How were they supposed to break into the most secure prison in the magical world, a werewolf, a pregnant witch, a wanted auror and a child hero? They didn't have the resources that Voldemort had.

Shacklebot seemed to be thinking around the same lines, "I used to work on transporting duty to the prison in my earlier days as an auror. There is only one platform that connects to Azkaban, I doubt that they decided to change its location." He offered, not too certain if he knew what he was suggesting.

"So you're suggesting attacking the platform in hopes of freeing muggleborns and hoping that at least some of them will be willing to join us?" Lupin asked.

Harry scratched his chin, absently noting the slight stubble that has grown there. The idea could barely be called a plan, it was all based on chance and luck, but what else did they really have?

"It's a good way to announce our presence. We can't let the world become too bored after all." He finally declared, managing to produce a half-hearted grin.

**XXXXXXX**

"Move along, you filth, I want to get home early today and I'd be damned if some Mudbloods will keep me waiting." A wizard roughly said while kicking a teenage girl who whimpered but offered nothing else. Harry had to grit his teeth to keep himself from pouncing at the man and making him choke on his words. Similar acts of brutality happened all over the platform by the dozen wizards and witches dressed in various dark shades.

Kingsley's memory proved to be right, as the platform was still at the same place. It was by the coast, somewhere in England, the auror wasn't too generous with the details.

The platform was rather small, with only a few docking stations that had cruelly small boats. There was no kind of a building to regulate it all, though a husk of a shack nearby suggested that there once was, when regulations were still being followed.

Surprisingly, there were barely any wards guarding it and not that many wizards around, not counting the few dementors. Their presence changed their plan slightly: Tonks, who insisted on coming despite their protests, was going to drive the dementors away with her patronus while the three eliminated the twelve oblivious guards. Despite being under a disillusionment charm, Harry took care to be careful with his creeping, which was made harder than expected with the limited sight his new mask allowed.

It was simple enough to turn the raven wall decoration into a wearable mask with Remus' help. They included some protective charms that allowed the raven head to withstand a lot of abuse. Lupin was able to incorporate the lenses of his glasses into the mask, saying that he didn't have the expertise to fix Harry's eyesight, which made the teenager wonder why he hadn't thought of it before. A hood was drawn over his head but he could go without it and still not look ridiculous, Harry supposed that it was an essential detail.

Harry finally set himself in the pre-agreed position which let him have a clear shot on at least five of the guards. They were facing the muggleborns, shouting insults at the trudging people who flinched away. He had to keep his anger in check, Tonks was the one to give the signal and doing anything before that could result in disaster. The teen couldn't stop himself from tensing in anticipation, it has been quite a while since he had a magical fight.

The witch's familiar werewolf patronus broke the charm of the moment, eliciting shouts of surprise from the guards and spells being shot from three wands that downed two of them. It took Harry a few moments to realize that he missed; his aim was completely off, causing the stunner to not even come close to its target. However, it revealed his position, which made the five guards turn towards his direction with their wands raised.

The masked teen had just enough time to gulp before five death curses headed his way. Perhaps his aim was rusty, but his agility was not. Harry reacted purely on instinct, weaving around the deadly spells and sending his own spell that connected this time, sending one of the five flying through the air.

He didn't even have enough time to feel good about himself, too busy jumping back to avoid being fried alive by a flaming curse. Sending a few more attacks, Harry felt his ire rise when he saw that most of them were off-mark. When did he have the time to become so out of practice? Despite being on the run for quite a while, he still expected himself to be at least in a good form.

The battle lasted too long, but Harry was finally able to best all of his five opponents, mainly because of the element of surprise and their own incompetence. Taking care to compose himself, Harry turned to face the shocked muggleborns, noticing right away that there were less of them than before. Some must've ran off when presented the chance.

He didn't start talking until he felt his three companions behind him, making sure that none of them were hurt in the short fight.

Standing in the cool night breeze, looking at a group of scared people who he was going to lead, Harry felt a strong sense of nostalgia. He'd give anything to have DA right here, to be with people that he felt comfortable leading. That would come with time. Now, he needed to worry about convincing these people to follow him into battle.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I have an offer to make for you." Harry said, trying to deepen his voice nervously.

"Who are you?" Someone from the crowd asked, there were nods of agreement as they looked at the raven headed man in confusion.

"My real name is unimportant, I am Valravn, a wizard who has had enough of sitting around and witnessing my fellow citizens getting slaughtered or sent to prisons on the account of their bloodlines. This is why I'm here, to stop this injustice and offer you the chance to join me on my quest." Harry wondered if he was going too far on the cheesy speech, but he acknowledged the fact that sometimes it was the only way to get a point across.

There were sceptical faces around the crowd of thirty or so, but he could see that he was already able to ignite the fire of hope in some of them. A middle-aged man stepped out of the crowd, leaving his spot by a woman and three children. He didn't have a remarkably big frame or height, but he was able to effortlessly catch the attention of the others. His voice carried through the night.

"What about our families? I want to fight, but I want to insure my wife's and children's safety first."

More murmurs of agreement and nods from the crowd.

"We have an apartment building that is in the process of being weaved with protective wards. Those who cannot fight are welcome to stay there; we will be using it as our headquarters." Harry replied, concentrating on the man in front of him, trying to give off an aura of sureness and confidence.

"How do we know that this isn't some plot by them to hurt us? There must be a reason why you're not showing your face." Another voice rang out, causing more discord in the group.

Harry felt his patience slowly ebbing away, they couldn't be sure that there weren't any alarms here. For all he knew, hordes of Death Eaters were heading their way while they spent their precious time arguing.

"Why would they go for such a stretch? You were supposed to be heading to _Azkaban, _you know, the prison where you get your soul sucked out? Despite the fact that they don't have anything to do in their spare time other than torturing muggles, I doubt that they'd go for something that smart." He said with a slight bite, doing his best to use the occlumency skills that he acquired to control himself.

"Can you even defeat You-Know-Who? You don't look so powerful."

Harry frowned.

"Are you kiddi-"

His speech was cut short by a sudden gasp from the crowd, before Harry or any of the three had time to react, something grabbed his shoulder from behind in a deadly grip. Turning around, the masked teen came to face a dementor with fear that was unseen by anyone but him.

Even the quickest reflex wouldn't have been enough to send a patronus charm towards the dementor before it attacked Harry. Reacting on basic instinct, the teen locked himself behind his mental shields. Around the cupboard he already had the time to start building walls and barricades, though he quickly found out that he couldn't block the sickly green connection to the Dark Lord, creating a hole in his defences that he has yet to find a way around. It had to do.

Right away, the young man could see and feel the dark intruding presence of the foul creature creeping upon his mind. The walls of his mentality shook as they were hit and pulled at the same time, almost overwhelming Harry right away. He didn't expect such intensity, but he was able to hold on a thread. Once he got used to the odd attack pattern, Harry could start executing his own counter.

When designing his 'fort', Harry couldn't resist adding a few classical catapult-like defences that now launched his aggressive defence in the form of projectiles at the presence. A horrible shriek rang out in the void, causing the young man to cover his ears in pain. The dementor pulled away from his mind, clearly not used to be attacked on that front. By the time that his vision cleared, the dementor was completely out of sight, having fled from terror it could apparently feel.

He let out a few deep exhales before turning back towards the crowd, seeing them staring at him with wide eyes.

"Is that proof enough for you?"

**Any feedback always makes me happy and much more motivated to quicken the updating speed.**


	18. Chapter 17 Thief

**A.N: So it has been over three months since I've last updated. I've been busy with writing a novel in three days and then ridiculous amounts of school work, as well as my writing spirit dying for a while. Two things: one, I cannot promise frequent updates, though I am not abandoning this story. Two, my friend and I are going to be writing a collaborated HP fanfiction on this profile. If that interests you, click on the 'Follow Author' button to be able to read the story once it comes out in a few weeks (I hope).**

**Chapter 17**

"What now?"

It was a good question, raised by many voices in varying levels of volume. They've made it safely to the apartment building, missing the arrival of the Death Eaters by a matter of seconds. Harry could only hope that they wouldn't be on the newspapers tomorrow, he has faced too many manhunts as it is.

Without counting the four of them, the building housed twenty two people; there was a total of six families and some stragglers along the way. Four of the rescued prisoners refused to even stay for refuge, claiming that they had a better chance to survive on their own. Harry felt like he was letting them walk to their deaths, but he had no right to stop them. Fourteen of them were willing to fight, even though Harry wasn't sure about the younger ones. He felt like a hypocrite, but there was something wrong about allowing fifteen year olds fight a war. In total, there were seven underage children with them and five parents who were not in the condition to fight.

They gathered in one of the bigger living rooms of the building, where an appreciated fireplace burned merrily in the darkness of the night. Most of the gathered people looked exhausted, but they have insisted to know his plan.

Isaac, the man who spoke out before, established his presence already.

"While I admire your search for justice and I am grateful for the timely rescue, you must understand that we need to know that you have some sort of plan. I don't want to make my family a bigger target than it already is for some senseless chase."

It struck closer than Isaac knew, but Harry was able to hide his wince behind the mask.

The kids were put to bed, but the two older ones had to be chased away when they tried to sneak back in. The whole situation felt like a surreal déjà-vu. The look of frustration that lighted their faces triggered the sight of the twins' faces.

And yet, George had only one ear.

"Right now, the Death Eaters think that they won the war. They think that England is in their grubby hands, that there is no one to oppose them." Harry started, looking at each of the occupants of the room in turn. Some couldn't handle the eye contact with the lifeless black eyes of the raven, but a few refused to look away.

"For them, a little group of muggle-sympathisers isn't worth chasing. They consider us lower than scum; they don't see scum as a threat. We can strike them numerous times, free as many prisoners as we want before they do anything about it."

"And when they do?" A red-haired woman asked from her chair.

Valravn regarded her gravely.

"We will be too powerful to stop."

It was clear that the others had more questions to ask, but fatigue from all of the excitement has caught on to most of them. Harry assured them that he'd be more than happy to keep answering tomorrow, after a good breakfast. That sent all of them to bed.

They were an eager bunch. Harry could see that most of them were excited about the whole prospect of fighting the bad guys. All of them have been mistreated by the Ministry and were ready to tussle. Why did it feel like he was going to be sending cubs against fully grown nasty wolves?

He sank down into the armchair, not addressing the three remaining people in the room.

"Are you okay, Harry?" Remus asked tentatively.

His masked face rose from his crossed arms.

"Valravn." He corrected sharply.

The werewolf frowned but didn't argue, preferring to keep his silence.

"We need to start training them as soon as possible. While they won't report about the whole incident in the newspapers, the Death Eaters _will _take notice. King, Remus, I want you two to be the instructors. I'll attend the sessions, I need the training as well. It's been a while since I've been in a magical fight." Harry admitted reluctantly.

They nodded hesitantly, not sure how to react to that piece of news.

"How can we have a leader that can't even hold his own in a fight?" A voice came from behind of them, which caused a chain of reactions. Four wands were drawn in a matter of a second, pointing at the newcomer while they leaped out of their seats. The man drew his hands up, Harry identified him as Isaac.

"You can start with not sneaking behind people's backs. That typically ends up with pain and agony." Valravn replied coldly, keeping his wand up even when the other three lowered theirs. Isaac looked at him, unwilling to back down. There was a light of revelation in his eyes, as if the man has just figured out a big secret.

"You're lucky that I didn't say anything in front of the others. If I did, we would be sitting here up till sunrise." Isaac informed them, his stance tense with anticipation of an attack.

His heart beat picked up in anxiety, has he already exposed himself?

Isaac stepped closer to the group, eyeing each one of them with clear mistrust.

"You're Remus Lupin." He finally declared, turning towards the surprised werewolf.

The four of them exchanged a quick look, evidently not having expected that.

Remus cleared his voice uncomfortably, "well yes, I am."

"Weren't you with Harry Potter and that auror when they died?" The way Isaac stretched the word _died _worried Harry. The older man wasn't looking at him, but he still got the feeling that he addressed him as well.

"Yes I was," Lupin said carefully, "I was the only one who escaped. That newspaper got it all wrong."

It wasn't the best sort of lie that Harry has heard, but it was good enough. Unless the man was going to ask specific questions.

"It is very easy to get details like that wrong." Isaac agreed with an undertone of sarcasm.

"As for my fighting skills, I've been travelling these past few months on an important quest. It didn't present me the opportunity to exercise my magic as much as I would've liked." Valravn intervened, feeling that they were heading towards dangerous territory.

The older man turned towards him, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Of course. I'm sure there are many things that are more important than the war that is going on, I completely understand."

Why did he get the feeling that they were going to get along famously?

**XXXXXXX**

A single knock.

The door opened just enough for a pair of hard eyes to peek through the crack, staring at the man mistrustfully.

"Are you a muggle?"

There was no reply from the man, who chose to blankly stare at the door. It unnerved the person behind the door, causing him to shuffle uncomfortably.

"Hey, are you a muggle? I'm going to call the peacekeeping force, you hear me?"

That snapped the man out of his daze. He blinked a couple of times, as to clear away any cobwebs that invaded his mind. This behaviour did nothing to assure the person behind the door. After having a quick confused look around, the man finally focused on the pair of eyes.

"Hello, I'm Animus, I ordered an appointment with Dr. Lockhart." Animus said in an uncertain voice, already feeling foolish about the whole thing.

The eyes stared at him for a few more moments in suspicion, weighting the risks of letting him in before disappearing as the door opened.

Animus moved hesitantly inside of the house, feeling the comfortable weight of his wand against his forearm.

House elves provided refreshments of all sorts as they settled in the living room of the man. He didn't live in such a big house, and Animus got the impression that he lived alone. The presence that a partner established in a house was missing.

Dr. Lockhart was a wizard that must've been edging on his sixty or even seventy years. It reflected very clearly in his weary posture. If Animus wasn't as distracted as he was at that moment, he might've wondered if it had anything to do with his possible link to Gilderoy Lockhart. Was it living in the shadow of a celebrity or his unfortunate accident that happened at Hogwarts?

_Wasn't Harry Potter with him when it happened? Was it a reoccurring thing for the teenager? _

The man sat down heavily on his armchair, not offering Animus the same courtesy. It was fine, the younger man didn't feel inclined to sit either way.

Lockhart gazed at him, his hard eyes projecting a general aura of mistrust.

"I think that I've been obliviated." Animus blurted out after a few moments of silence. He winced, realizing just how silly the proclamation sounded.

It has been a week since he stood before the Dark Lord to proclaim Potter's death. Since then, nothing felt right. He couldn't recognize the people who were once his comrades. Waking up every day was like the morning after a one night stand; there was no love or affection for his wife, just the sensation of an outsider. It became too much too quickly. Animus has spent the last three nights on a dirty hotel mattress, tears of frustration running down his rough cheeks.

All of his memories, even the ones from his early childhood, were cast in a shadow's shade. He could hear them crying out for him, begging to be remembered. Names came and went, leaving sinister carving on his sanity. One sole memory remained standing in his mind, jumping before his eyes every time he closed them.

_Streaks of colours flying before his eyes, adrenaline rushing through his veins as the grip on his wand tightened. The hunt finally has come to an end, their prey had nowhere to run. A flash of terrified emerald green eyes, and then... darkness._

Potter did something to his memory.

That was the only conclusion that Animus was able to reach. His memories defied the logical order of nature, which meant that a human hand manipulated them. But how could it possible when he brought the dead teenager to Voldemort?

It was then that Animus realized that he was speaking out loud to Lockhart who was still looking at him. Animus recognized the look and he didn't like it.

"Please, can you just check it?" He asked, knowing that he was a hairline away from being kicked out. He was out of options. There was no way that he was going to talk to anyone else about it. Very few people had patience for crazies, especially during wartime.

Lockhart sighed finally, muttering under his breath while waving his wand in various patterns in front of Animus. The tip glowed softly, pulsing in different colours that told him nothing. All it did was pull him into a trance; he couldn't tear his eyes away from the shining tip.

"I cannot detect anything that would suggest that-" The old man stopped midsentence, a frown settling on his ancient features. A look overcame his eyes of a blinded man touching his son's hand after decades.

Animus' patience did not last for long. "What is it?"

"The work of this wizard is very subtle, he must've been a master; your memory has been altered." Lockhart confirmed after lowering his wand.

A sigh escaped from his lips, Animus did not know how to feel now that his suspicions have been established as just.

"Is there any way to reverse it?" He tried to keep out the hope out of his voice, with little success.

The older wizard hesitated to answer, preferring to look elsewhere. Animus wondered how it felt to live alone at such an old age. Did the bed get any less colder as the years passed? Or did the man still held the impossible hope of finding another partner before time came to pay its due?

"With such craftsmanship, I cannot promise you anything. The only thing that I can offer you is my attempt." The man finally replied, letting the younger wizard fill in the blanks.

It was going to hurt.

"Let's do it." Animus said with a measure of bravery that he lacked.

Lockhart did not warn him, probably with the experience of dealing with jittery patients. The pain was horrible. It was unexpected, intense, _mean_. Animus felt every nerve in his body flare up in angry response. The backlash sent him flying towards the floor, a scream ripping itself out of his throat.

He thrashed on the floor, faintly hearing Lockhart's quiet muttering above him.

Animus could feel the memories' presence, but they refused to reach him. Instead, he could make out a firm whisper in his ear through the haze. The pain stopped, but the whispering did not. His eyes were shut, but he could see the words carved into his eyelids.

_Find Harry Potter. _

"Are you alright?"

_Find Harry Potter._

"Damn it, as if I needed another crazy to deal with."

Animus wept on the wooden floor, his memories still locked away from him.

**A.N: Feedback and criticism are always welcome!**


	19. Chapter 18 Settling in

**A.N: *Insert a long list of reasons for why I haven't been updating for so long***

**I created a Wattpad account where you can find some of my original written works, you can find the link on my profile. **

**Chapter 18**

"So, what's up with the mask?" A voice broke through Harry's morning haze.

He raised his raven head to look at the young teenager in front of him. From what he got, she was fifteen, homeschooled by her muggleborn parents who felt that the magical world was too unkind towards non-pureblood citizens. Even if he didn't wear the mask, he doubted that she would've recognized him. He had to resist the temptation.

"The privilege of privacy is something that I came to cherish, Celandine." He replied, sipping on his tea. Harry and Remus stayed slightly late into the night, to come up with the right charms for Valravn to be able to eat and drink without having to take off his mask. Nevertheless, he had to ignore the unconscious instinct of trying to avoid knocking against the raven's beak.

The teenager looked at him for a few moments, chewing her toast in thoughtful silence.

"Well, it looks lame." Celandine said with an air of finality.

Harry felt his cheeks warming up, he was glad that she couldn't see it. Though, his silence was most likely more than enough to let her know.

The dark-skinned boy sitting next to them snickered quietly. His name was Brian, he was the second under-age teenager who tried to convince Valravn to be allowed to fight. It was the three of them at the table this early in the morning, the others cherishing the unusual opportunity to sleep in without being bothered by Ministry personnel.

Despite the semi-hurtful remarks, Harry could feel their frequent curious glances at him. He knew that if a masked stranger showed up and saved him from a lengthy stay at Azkaban, he'd be wondering as well.

"Then it gives me an advantage," Valravn concluded, "an average Death Eater wouldn't be too intimidated by a lame mask. It gives me the chance to finish the fight before it even began."

It meant to be a joke, but the coldness in his voice turned it into something much more sinister. The two teenagers tried their best to smile, but they ended up with grimaces.

"Don't let that downer ruin your breakfast, kids. He's a big softie deep down inside." Tonks commented as she entered the kitchen, a hand lying softly on her stomach.

They chuckled while Harry sent a half-hearted glare at the pregnant woman, receiving a teasing wink in return.

The table filled in with the younger kids who demanded breakfast. Tonks tended to them with a gentle look in her eyes that Harry has never seen before. Remus joined her, his own gaze turning soft as he helped her with the horde of hungry kids.

"They are really good with the kids, I have no idea how they do it." Celandine whispered to him, taking great care to not be overheard.

"I think that it's their ages, as well as everything that they went through." Harry replied, not knowing why he was sharing that much with a stranger.

She considered his words for a few moments.

"You seem to know them pretty well." She commented off-handily, not expecting to be graced with a response.

"Yeah, they've been around for me for quite a while." Harry admitted with an unseen smile.

**XXXXXXX**

"Are you trying to make us give up?" Brian demanded with an angry flush on his face, panting slightly from the physical work.

"No, I'm not." Harry tried to deny as he dodged another one of Celandine's spells with little effort. It took him some time to get into the whole combat, but his muscles soon remembered the old dance. The sluggishness at the raid seemed to be nothing more than just a scare. Or perhaps it was their clumsiness that made him look like a world champion.

Brian sent a stunner his way. It was blocked by Valravn's shield before being answered with his own stunner. The teenager wasn't able to muster the agility to dodge it in time.

The others didn't seem to be doing much better either; awkward missteps and clunky spell work dominated the broad gymnasium that they found on the third floor of the building. Valravn had to wonder if he made a mistake by trying to create an army out of those who were not built to fight.

"Come on, people. We aren't going to get anywhere if you are too afraid to hurt your opponent." He called out loudly at them, hoping to get some sort of a reaction.

A Reducto spell almost slammed into his chest, but Harry was able to dodge in time. The violent hex smashed against the wall, leaving an impressive mark on it. All activity in the room halted at once, people stared at the downed Valravn.

He got up slowly to his feet.

"Whose spell was this?" The question rang out.

A hand was shakily raised. It belonged to Celandine who had a terrified look on her face.

Valravn paced towards her with slow and deliberate steps. Stopping right in front of her, he breathed out a little sigh of contemplation. The young woman was absolutely petrified, ready to flinch away from anything.

"That's exactly what I'm looking for." He finally announced loudly, clapping a hand on her shoulder. No one dared to say anything, continuing to stare at the pair with wide eyes.

If he didn't know better, Harry would've thought that they expected him to hit the girl or something of the kind.

**XXXXXXX**

The fist almost collided with Harry's mask, but the wizard was able to evade it just in time. He stepped back, trying to create distance between himself and his opponent.

Brian was completely engrossed in the mock fight, advancing towards Valravn without a moment of hesitation.

Harry had to wonder how the boy's parents felt about his finesse in physical combat, but he couldn't check. Many offensives rained down on him, not letting him even a chance to breathe.

Dudley made sure that his childhood did not lack experiences with violence, but it helped him little at the moment. Harry was used to running away from the fights. Now, he had no choice but to face them head on. The teenager wasn't quite sure if he liked the change.

Someone raised the idea of training without wands, just so they didn't rely on them too much. Harry had much more in mind than mere fist fighting.

Ideas like his felt more at home with an army, not a homemade group of rebels.

His head snapped back as one of Brian's attacks finally connected. However, a sharp kick to his opponent's knee wiped off the triumphant smirk before it could even come out. Ignoring the pain radiating from his left cheek, Valravn pressed his advantage. The teenager was pinned to the floor before he could recover.

"Good lord, you really don't go easy on people, huh?" Brian grunted out once the masked man let him go. He slowly got up to his feet, making sure that he had his balance.

Valravn considered him for a moment, the emotionless raven eyes refusing to betray even the smallest detail.

"Will you ask the death eaters to do the same?"

**XXXXXXX**

"You stay away from my daughter, you hear me?"

Harry looked at the man in front of him, unsure how to react. It was Isaac, the man who has been trying to doubt and dismiss anything that they've been trying. Remus had to face unending questions every time he said anything during the training sessions.

"_I don't want my family to go through anything they don't need."_

"_How would this help us survive?"_

"_As adorable as your jumping around is, I don't see why we need to do this."_

Harry seriously considered telling the man to leave, to avoid destroying morale before it even had the chance to rise up, but two things stopped him. Firstly, they didn't have enough people to be able to casually throw the cheeky ones out. Secondly, despite all of his questioning, Isaac was perhaps the best out of all of their recruits. His wand work was precise and deadly, and his agility and calm made up for his lack of brute force. Kingsley and Harry privately decided to bear with his attitude.

"I'm sorry?" Valravn finally replied, crossing his arms as he faced the older man.

"Do you think that I don't know what you're doing?" Isaac demanded quietly. They were in the hallway beside the gymnasium where the recruits were taking a quick break. If he raised his voice just a bit more, it would be possible for them to be overheard.

"You know very well that we could leave whenever we want to, but you can't afford to let that happen, can you?"

Valravn did not acknowledge whether Isaac was right or not, preferring to ask, "what does this have to do with your daughter? Who _is _your daughter?"

Isaac's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Don't play dumb with me, bird boy. I've seen how you act around Celandine; you want to tie her in so that she convinces us to stay."

Harry blinked in surprise, unseen by the other man.

"Celandine is your daughter?" He blurted out, unable to see the similarities at first.

However, after a few beats, some dots started to connect. While they didn't share any obvious ones, Harry could see the familial link. The girl clearly inherited her father's confidence when speaking, and the same fire that burned in her eyes was reflected in Isaac's.

"We've stayed away from your world all of these years, and we were doing fine before all of this. Just because you people cannot deal with your own problems doesn't mean that it's our job to clean it up." The reproach in the older man's voice halted any protests from Valravn.

"No one is forcing you to stay; like I said before, you are free to leave whenever you feel like it." Valravn kept his voice calm, not wanting to provoke the man more than he already was.

"Oh spare me," Isaac snorted, "why would you let anyone leave? They are bound to be caught and spill all the secrets about this place."

He did not consider that.

However, before Harry had time to come up with a reply, a voice interrupted them.

"Dad? What's going on?" Celandine stood at the entrance to the hallway, looking at the two of them with a scared look. Clearly, they did not stay quiet enough.

Isaac gave a start, moving away from Valravn. Harry himself realized that they somehow closed the distance between them while talking. They stood almost nose to beak.

"Nothing, sweetheart, I just needed to have a little talk with Valravn here. Is your mother with Jean and Breese?" Isaac moved towards his daughter, leading her into the room without another look at Valravn. Celandine gave him a final confused gaze before the pair disappeared into the gymnasium.

Harry leaned against the wall with a sigh. He instinctively ran his hand through his hair, ruffling feathers instead. The mask suddenly felt suffocating; Harry wanted to take it off and throw it away.

Was he truly ready to take the role of a leader, to bear the baggage that came with that title?

Was he ready to be a Valravn?

**A.N: Feedback is always welcome. **


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